Whirlpool of the Mist
by RecFanfiction
Summary: Naruto gained an advantage when in Wave, the only question remaining is how he will use it. (Will have Cannon Divergence - Used to be tilted Zanaru Chronicles)
1. The Mixing

**_Whirlpool of the Mist **:** The Mixing_**

 _Summary:_ It wasn't something that was planned by either of them, but it would change the future. This time, it wasn't really Haku that had the biggest effect on Naruto, but rather, it was Zabuza. Only impression happens in the most unexpected of ways.

 _Warnings:_ Cannon typical violence, homosexual relationships, language, and sexual content.

 _Authour Note:_ So, as of 2/3/2017 I have a beta writer for this story. The title has been changed, and over all the story will come to be smoother and flow better with less mistakes in grammar and spelling. Their username is **Giou Yomi** they have some interesting reads over there. I especially liked their Naru x Kaka story. Soon enough this chapter will be edited for mistakes - followed closely after by the others. It's unlikely that I will update a lot until after we have caught up to what is already out.

2/11/17: Giou Yomi has gone through my trash writing and made it a master piece, adding in smoother transitions, cleaning my grammar, and making an all around better product! I can't wait to get all the other chapters up to the par that this first one has now set.

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The midsummer breeze was blowing away the remaining chill of the light snowfall. The air was clean, the excitement having long since died down, and everything was silent. No more fighting, no blades clashing, just a stony and peaceful silence.

Zabuza was dying.

Blood dripping from his mouth, he looked toward his greatest failure. His Haku, who died thinking that he was nothing more than a tool to his master. Shinobi were practically born to be killers, their lives expendable, but Haku was more than that to him. Still a tool, still a shinobi, but he was also his student - His legacy. He turned painstakingly toward the blonde Genin. The seemingly weak child who had fought so earnestly, the child who had a hidden strength and a way with words that could shake the strongest of wills. He had proved it against Zabuza himself, after all…

Naruto Uzumaki.

Looking at the blonde now, you wouldn't know it. Even beaten as Zabuza was, the blonde was scared of him. His gaze met anything but Zabuza's eyes and his hands still trembled. He seemed like he was trying to hide it, an almost broken mask barely being held together. This was the kid who had lectured the Demon of the Mist with so much vigour?

The blonde hit it so well though. If anything, the fear was a good thing in this case. It meant Naruto knew his place in the world, knew that there were monsters,but he was still willing to fight. A brave fool in a world of cannibalistic hunters, but a fool nonetheless. Zabuza inwardly scoffed, but now knew that despite how tiny and weak the brat first seemed, at least he was mildly interesting.

"Why are you shaking so much, gaki? Has your childish bravado finally abandoned you?" Zabuza motioned with his head toward kubikiribocho, "I'm interested to see just what you'll become... be it man or monster. Take this… I'll be watching you from hell, so you'd better use it right. Now take me to them."

Kakashi and Sakura were utterly silent. Sakura was still shellshocked, both by Sasuke's near death and the massacre that just occurred. Zabuza wasn't an ally, not even a victim because he's to blame as much as Gato for Nami's situation, but a shinobi who fought until the end for his believes. That much deserved respect.

Despite everything that happened, Naruto couldn't bring himself to allow his fears to overwhelm him to the point where he couldn't grant a dying man his last wish. Therefore, Naruto grabbed Zabuza's sword and hoisted it up in one arm, and leant down to help Zabuza over to Haku with the other. Naruto could feel his arms screaming in pain as the muscles cramped, the abuse of his already battle worn muscles challenging Naruto's pain tolerance. Haku would want it though, had already expressed his wishes to stay with his master forever, so he pulled through, enhancing his strength with chakra he didn't have to stabilize himself.

He laid Zabuza down next to the ice user as gently as possible. Zabuza reached over, touching Haku's cheek softly, "Haku..."

Naruto stepped back, touched by the heavy grief that was carried in just one word. Despite how private it was, Naruto, uncharacteristically silent, couldn't bring himself to look away - as though he needed to see this.

Sakura tried to look avert her gaze, feeling as if she was intruding on something, but her head was held in place by a heavy hand that carded gently through her hair, "Don't look away, Sakura. These are the last moments of a proud shinobi who died for what he believed in. Cherish this moment, and learn something from it." Kakashi's hand lingered for a few seconds, then dropped to his side.

They both looked back to where Zabuza was laying down next to his student.

The missing-nin was tenderly stroking Haku's cheek with a fondness that was unusual for such a bloody killer, yet it was somehow appropriate and bittersweet. Zabuza didn't like or want regrets, and Haku was only one of many - one that he didn't know he regretted until the very end. A loving child shattered by his own master's incompetent hands.

His vision blurred at the edges. Death was near, and Zabuza was ready. Perhaps he'd get to meet Haku in the afterlife. But that wasn't possible, was it? Because Haku was going to Paradise, if such a place existed, and he would be in Hell.

A shivering breath escaped his lungs, like the wind on a stormy day, and he stilled.

Pain buzzed in the back of Naruto's mind, but he ignored it considering the current situation.

…

Naruto's head started to throb but at first he had ignored it figuring it was probably just the exhaustion from the battle finally acting up. But in only grew more and more insistent. Naruto closed his eyes and gritted his teeth against the pain.

"Naruto?" A faraway voice called. It sounded unsteady to his ears.

It wasn't really a surprise. The exhaustion had finally caught up to Naruto, having barely recovered from using Kyuubi's malevolent chakra when fighting an opponent far above his own level. He had watched Zabuza die, next to one of the only people he could ever think to call his friend. He didn't kill either of them, but had contributed enough to feel the guilt all the same. It was one thing to relish in the victory of beating up an opponent, and another entirely to live through the aftermath of his first real battle.

It was nowhere near the glorious emotion feedback that he'd always imagined would come with victory.

However, that was not the reason behind sudden pain digging into the Uzumaki's eyes. It wasn't the exhaustion, the malevolent chakra, or the swirl of emotions that ran through him.

He passed out.

...

A steady wave of information flooded his brain. Had he been anyone else, the jinchuuriki of the Nine tails, he would have died from such an influx. Instead, his brain rewired itself, neuronal connections rearranging and multiplying, not destroying but building on what was already there. Always adding, supplementing, layers and layers of knowledge transmitted in a fraction of a Kyuubi awoke from his light slumber and growled threateningly at the multicolored strings and beads forming before his cage. With a snap of his tails, they disentangled, knots coming undone under the potent chakra of the beast.

Suddenly, Naruto remembered.

He smelled the odour of salt water and cold humidity stuck to his skin. Warm, dark toned blood, water-washed and tasting of bitter copper, permeated his clothes and pooled at his feet. A sense of self-satisfaction and deep euphoria welled up inside of him. A familiar, heavy weight rested against his palm. Kubikiribocho.

A demon, he cackled madly. Was it Naruto? Was it Zabuza? Was it Kyuubi?

Too much information was flowing through his brain at once. His brain rewired itself to only call upon those memories when Naruto consciously made the decision. Perhaps with a little bit of secret help from a certain fox. Having a brain dead host was not exactly a good thing, after all.

…

When Naruto woke up, he was surrounded by familiar trees. The smell of wet dog assaulted his nose. Silver, gravity-defying hair tickled his chin and the gentle, swaying motion of being held in a piggyback fashion by his lazy sensei was calming.

The young Uzumaki scrambled for his thoughts, but his head throbbed in protest.

"Good morning, my adorable little student. You've been out for a few days." Kakashi greeted, having felt the subtle tensing of Naruto's muscles as he had woken up.

"Really?!" Naruto couldn't remember himself ever having been unconscious for so long.

Kakashi hummed in agreement. "Do you feel well enough to walk on your own? We're still an hour's walk from the village."

"I'm not really sure…" Naruto mumbled against the Jounin's neck, "Where's my sword?"

Naruto felt his mouth form the syllables, but didn't even understand what he was asking for. His sword? Yet, a memory that felt far away moved through him, hands slick with blood gripping a blade so hard the handle would have broken should it have been a different sword, and so much red. The blonde could feel a weird sensation in his head, a strange itching at the back of his mind, and Naruto reached out. An explosion of sensations Naruto hadn't ever felt, emotions he'd never dreamed, and injuries he'd never experienced.

Zabuza, the name echoed in Naruto's head with a weight that Naruto hadn't felt for anything other than his own name.

"I put it into a sealing scroll for now, just until we get back to the village. Can't have my injured student hulling that piece of metal around."

"Like Naruto-baka could even use a sword like that. I bet he can't even pick it up!" Sakura harrumphed, not even looking in Naruto's direction.

For the first time ever, Naruto felt a stab of annoyance toward the girl. At the very least, she had been there when Naruto picked the blade up, and sure, he wasn't yet capable of doing so for any long period of time, or even capable of using it just yet, but that didn't mean he couldn't hold it. He was not that weak, despite his skinny build, and he was stronger than the pinkette fan-girl.

Naruto was almost shocked by his own thoughts of the matter.

He's had a crush on Sakura for as long as he could remember. She was lovely, intelligent and didn't hesitate to state her opinions. Yet somehow he felt more annoyed at her than anything else, even if normally his heart would skip a beat by just looking at her.

A part of him felt like she was too weak. Too skinny, too superficial. She certainly had the temper of a kunoichi, but misguided, and her mindset wasn't fit for their profession. Too innocent.

Naruto frowned. Innocence? Was it necessarily a bad thing? He risked a glance at the girl. He took in her loose hair, obviously well cared for yet absolutely useless in a fight, her prepubescent body, her noisy footfall and the shine of gloss on her lips, and the way she would stare at the Uchiha, and Naruto just… felt nothing.

Nothing if a dark sort of pity for the girl, because with the way she was going she would be nothing more than cannon-fodder on a battlefield.

Sakura was nothing like a true kunoichi, nothing like Mei Terumi. Was Konoha really that weak?

Naruto's thoughts halted.

There was no Mei Terumi in Konoha. She was a Jounin, he knew that, but he didn't remember seeing her name on the mission roster that he used to steal to plan his pranks.

Another thought came to the forefront of his mind. Somehow the green of fresh leaves in spring didn't suit her. Mei was more.. Fire, red-hot lava and steam, beautiful and deadly like a water serpent. Mei, who liked to wear blue and white and who had dark orange hair.

Mei, who, the last time he'd seen her, had worn a Mist headband.

He hasn't seen her since he had become a missing-nin and picked up Haku from the streets.

"Master!" Haku, who he loved like a son. Haku, in front of him, a fist through his heart and still smiling so beautifully. Haku, who died protecting his worthless self.

He remembered the fight. The blood. The snow.

He remembered Zabuza Momochi.

Naruto buried his face into Kakashi's hair, mind whirling, flabbergasted.

What exactly was going on?

...

Gradually, more of Zabuza's memories leaked through. Naruto was having problems sorting through all of them. Most were just blurry forms of what could have been people. There were distant impressions of a village, training, and the pride of being one of a famous group of swordsmen.

Naruto's head ached, and his neck felt stiff. Too much was happening and he was still very tired. His face scrunched up a bit as he tried to concentrate. He figured that if the memories came when he thought about something related to them, then he should be able to shut them out just as easily.

Suddenly, an image flashed in front of him. It was a chamber with high ceilings, where water caressed his shins and multicolored beads hung from strings attached the walls. Gigantic metal bars delimited the shadows that grew from one corner of the room.

The scene disappeared just as quickly.

Naruto opened his eyes and blinked. His thoughts were… less off, not as dark, and certainly didn't include Gramps grabbing him with the intent to torture information out of him. He felt his teammates' gaze on him. They were looking at him weirdly, walking silently beside their sensei. Naruto wondered why that was, tilting his head toward the side.

"What? I'm just thinking about all the ramen I'm going to eat when I get home."

He turned his head away from his team, whistling innocently and sweating heavily. The rest of the team gave him a disbelieving glance, but he ignored the looks, determined not to say what the real problem was.

Why should he potentially give away such important information to such undeserving little –

The thoughts snuck through again. Naruto could feel himself frown slightly, that was certainly something that he would have to work on. He can't very well slip into a whole other personality whenever he lost concentration. He would probably have to go through the memories on his own later so that they would stop distracting him. If it became necessary, he could always seek advice from Hokage-jiji.

A wave of distrust ran through him. Naruto ignored it, knowing that the old man would never actually hurt him. Hiruzen Sarutobi was Hokage, an active shinobi years after his prime, but to Naruto he was the one who took care of him when no one else would. He can be trusted.

The village soon came into view, and Naruto could feel warmth spread through him at the view.

...

"Alright Naruto, I'll drop you off at your place and leave the sword there as well. I'll go debrief the Hokage by myself, you all deserve the rest. I'll send you a message for the next team meeting." Kakashi looked specifically toward Sasuke as he spoke, but the words rang true for all the Genin. This mission had tired even Naruto after all. So, once Kakashi was sure that they understood, he started to walk toward Naruto's apartment, still carrying Naruto on his back.

"I'm sorry about your friend, Haku. We gave him and Zabuza a proper burial before we left." Kakashi finally spoke, his voice grave in a way that Naruto hadn't ever heard before.

"I'll just have to live up to both of their expectations." Naruto spoke, voice hard with determination but cracking slightly. The past few days had been stressful, and he was still, in so many ways, just a child.

Truthfully, Naruto was surprised that Kakashi even bothered to mention it. The man had seemed distant before, and even now, Naruto could practically feel how uncomfortable he was if the tension in his shoulders was any indication. Considering just how good Naruto's sensei usually was at hiding his emotions, it went a long way in telling Naruto just how new or awkward the situation was to the Jounin.

"In this ninja world, we all lose precious things, it could be your friends your family, or even something dear to you… The sad reality is that we are tools to be used, professional killers for hire, and sometimes these uses cause death. Zabuza and Haku were a tragic case…" Kakashi continued, but still seemed weirdly awkward.

"Are you trying to lecture me, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto stated shrewdly, "No one is just a tool, and if that is how this ninja world works, then I'll change it. Especially now that I carry the weight of Zabuza and Haku, I'll carve my own path, and I'll keep my word. that's my ninja way!"

Kakashi nodded thoughtfully. In a rare display of affection, the man turned his head to nuzzle lightly Naruto's hair. Naruto couldn't see his face, but the crinkling of his teacher's eye hinted at a true smile, "I'm sure you will my cute little student. Only after you get a lot of rest though."

They reached Naruto's apartment building. Kakashi didn't bother with the stairs and directly jumped to Naruto's window, prying the old panels open with one hand and steadying Naruto with the other. Kakashi jumped inside the bedroom and laid his student down on the bed

He pulled out a scroll from the pouch on his vest and Kubikiribocho poofed into existence with a wave of his hand. He balanced it against Naruto's bed, "We won't have a team meeting until two weeks from now. Take that time to heal properly. I wouldn't want my cute little student to fall behind the others, would I?"

With that, Kakashi teasingly poked Naruto's nose before disappearing.

Naruto stared at the leftover smoke from the Shunshin, then heaved out a sigh and sunk into his blankets. Maybe that guy wasn't that bad of a teacher after all. Still, that was no excuse for the way he treated Naruto as if he was a baby. Nor did it excuse his lateness… Or those books… Or that weird mask… Moreover, that haircut of his…

Maybe Naruto could ask him for help later on - he hadn't agreed before the mission, but Naruto himself had changed a great deal through the ordeal. Perhaps Kakashi could be convinced if Naruto showed off a little of his newfound maturity.

Still, finally alone and lying in his bed, Naruto knew that he would not be able to find any sleep until he made sense of the current situation he found himself in. Having Zabuza's memories was not something that either of them had planned on, but ultimately this was a chance that could not be turned down even if Naruto wanted to. He now had the memories of a Jounin at his disposal, ready to be used. Naruto is not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

He relaxed into his pillow and allowed the memories to wash through him.

Blood, training, hard work. Sweat and blood, his achievements, his fame, and red, red, red…. Blood…more blood…. So much blood.

Naruto resurfaced with a horrified gasp, sweat running down his temple. This clearly wasn't going to be as easy as he'd hoped. Those memories that were inside of him, they weren't Zabuza's whole life, but snippets of it. Little, dark things, hard-learned lessons, important skills that were beaten into him…Zabuza's skills were an undeniable advantage from anyone's point of view, but those memories? Naruto wasn't sure if he wanted - if he could - shoulder all the regrets and grief, the weight of heavy bloodlust, the desire to protect and destroy. Maybe when he needed the experience, or when he needed to be reminded if he was making a similar mistake… However, those memories didn't belong here, not with him; they belonged with the dead Zabuza.

Except… Naruto was in some ways, Zabuza himself now. At least, he was all that remained of the man.

Naruto had said he would live up to Zabuza and Haku, and he would do just that. He would take on these memories, they would become his, and he would continue to grow strong… strong enough to achieve his goals, strong enough to defend what was his.

Just….

After a good night's rest.

 **R &R**


	2. The Memories

**_Zanaru Chronicles: The Memories_**

 _Summary:_ It wasn't something that was planned by either of them, but it would change the future. This time, it wasn't really Haku that had the biggest effect on Naruto, but rather, it was Zabuza. Only impression happens in the most unexpected of ways.

 _Warnings:_ Cannon typical violence, homosexual relationships, language, and sexual content.

 _Authour Note:_ This chapter is mostly laying down a bit of past for Zabu-chan that is pretty much my headcannon. The majority of this story will be my headcannon, so that's probably not a surprise. Oh, probably should point out that I am not editing these. I'm straight up writing them, and later when I'm not obsessive about getting chapters out, I'll go back and check on the actual quality of my work. Which, I'm sure, is utter shit right now. Let me know what you thought though, I'm always interested in others opinions on what happened, or what you think should happen.

3/8/17: **Giou Yomi** has gone through my trash writing and made it a master piece once again. This chapter is amazing and honestly I can't thank them enough. The amount of work that she puts in is amazing and honestly I couldn't ask for a better beta-reader.

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A night of rest did Naruto well.

When he woke up, he felt a lot more stable than the previous night. His thoughts were much less jumbled. While certain parts were still a bit confusing, he was mostly able to make a distinction between what he had lived through himself and the memories that came from Zabuza. It was surprising that the emotions from both lives were rather similar, and in a lot of places the feelings bleed together.

He was still mostly the same - impulsive, quick to anger, obnoxious, determined, ignorant, and true to his word. Yet undoubtedly, something had changed.

What little remained of his naivety, most of which had been stripped from Naruto at a young age, was now gone.

Naruto may be rash, but he wasn't a fool. Or at least, not in the ways that truly mattered. He did not excel in class like Sakura did, nor was he a natural born fighter. However, he had always been smart in how he would adapt to any situations. He had learned early in life how to camouflage, how to mislead, how to protect himself from the most harmful blows. He had never been good at taijutsu, his stance awkward and unsteady. But he has always known just when to put a hand over his nape to protect his head or how to pull his punches just so that it would be easy to defend himself. It had been a necessity after all, if he wanted to survive alone in a village that would throw him away at the first chance.

Yet even when he knew how to make a little shove hurt, when he knew how to turn slightly sharpened branches into lethal weapons, he had rarely used those skills to hurt, and never to avenge. Konoha was his village after all, and Naruto was loyal beyond all else even when its villagers were his greatest enemies.

But now… Now Naruto felt a stab of contempt and cold rage at the reminder of how they treated him. It was a harsh kind of hate, deeply rooted and burning in his guts. It was unsettling.

The villagers didn't deserve his pity nor his efforts. They could perhaps be pardoned over time, but for now he wouldn't settle for anything less than them begging for forgiveness at his feet. Dark satisfaction ran through him at the thought. Right now, the villagers could all die for all he cared. He had no obligations towards them. He would only fight for those who actually care for him. His precious people.

Precious people… Haku…

A strong feeling of guilt ran through Naruto at the name. His own guilt for not being able to save one of his first friends, the person who had taught him one of the most important lessons in his life. But under that laid Zabuza's potent emotions. In so many ways, the man had felt horrible about how he'd treated Haku. He had raised his apprentice horribly, had treated him as nothing more than a tool. Cut through his dying body in an attempt to get to Kakashi and save his own life. He didn't deserve the loyalty that he'd gotten from Haku.

It wasn't my choice I needed to do that to save my own life, but it doesn't matter, Haku choose me and I screwed that up. Now I ought to try to own up to that, instead of feeling guilty over it, Naruto thought, not even realizing he was referring to himself as Zabuza anymore, taking the dead-man's actions and feelings as his own.

Now all that was left to think about was the matter of the memories that he now had. They were his now. He would never be Zabuza, never the same bitter man as the swordsman was, but somewhere in between. A mix of a cold blooded assassin and a mistreated child only stepping into the shinobi world.

It was time to work with these he currently had a pretty good understanding of Zabuza's life, it was hard to organize them and to draw out a specific one by will. If Naruto was going to do this properly, he would have to start with the earliest memories and build up from there.

Zabuza was definitely a bloodthirsty man. However, he knew that it wasn't all there was to the shinobi. Naruto wanted to understand him, to get to the person behind the sharp teeth and the massive sword, to the man who wasn't Zabuza Momochi, A-class missing-nin and one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, but rather simply Zabuza. He didn't want to resent what was now a piece of himself that couldn't be denied without comprehending it first. Therefore, instead of getting up from his bed and preparing for the day, Naruto stayed lying down, staring at his ceiling.

He closed his eyes and relaxed, calming himself down and reaching for the deepest recesses of his mind.

A sigh escaped him.

…

 _Zabuza stared out through the mist, a smile on his face and determination squaring his slim shoulders, barely muscled with the advantages of a fading childhood. Beside him was his one and only friend. "One day, I'm going to become strong enough to protect this place, and make it safe for people with bloodlines. Our Kage won't life forever, and I'm definitely going to make this place safe."_

 _His friend had a rare bloodline limit, and the current Mizukage, with his new anti-bloodline policies, had utterly obliterated what little remained of his family. They had been shinobi, all of them, fighting and dying for their village, only to be met with scorn in return. This friend had been sent away from the village a few years ago by his parents, who had foreseen the danger of staying there. Their bloodline gave them abnormally sharp instincts, allowing them to sense any threats to their life. Instincts are extremely valued by the Mist's shinobi, especially when fighting in the Land of Water's weather. Still, as useful as it was, no one with a bloodline was safe here._

 _His friend turned to him with a sad smile. "Just look at me… I'm pathetic. It won't work… It's hopeless to fight against it."_

 _"But you can! You are still alive! Who cares if you're hiding! Who cares if you're only a Chuunin! If you can fight to survive like this, than I can fight to change the world. I'm going to become Mizukage and protect the people here who can't protect themselves!" Zabuza stated, staring at his friend, lips pulled thin behind the bandages on the lower half of his face. He wouldn't take no for an answer._

 _His friend eyed him incredulously. "You're hopeless Zabu-baka. Somehow though…" He smiled fondly, "You're my friend, and if you say you can do it then I can only believe in you."_

 _Zabuza didn't think he'd grinned so widely in his life._

…

Naruto came out of the memory with a smile tugging at his lips and tears in his eyes. The emotions were so strong, so warm, they made his heart ache with something that Naruto hadn't ever felt before. A true friend, one that believed in him and in his dream, was something he never would have thought possible. So Zabuza had someone like that when he was young… he was lucky. No, Naruto was lucky too. Now that he had those memories, that friend was also his, even if they hadn't truly met. It was another person added to his growing list of those he had to protect.

And his word was his promise.

Yet somehow, the thought left him oddly bittersweet. Emotions that Naruto didn't understand. He suddenly itched to know what happened after, what happened to Zabuza's friend. Naruto's friend now, who deserved far more than the life he had known in the place called the Bloody Mist.

…

 _Zabuza stared at him._

 _Still so warm, still so pale, still so beautiful. still so young. So still, that broken corpse was, held in his hands._

 _It was brutal, legs, arms, head, all detached from his torso, muscles torn and the pearly bone-white fragments lying in piles of crushed flesh. So much blood, viscous and slippery on Zabuza's soaked chest, and while it was a feeling he occasionally relished in he couldn't do anything but to blankly look down. A tight ball of air rushed up his trachea and built up at the back of his throat, like nausea and a scream in a mouth that refused to open._

 _The metallic stench of bloodshed filled his nose, his head, his lungs, permeated his entire body._

 _Zabuza looked at his friend's mangled face, unrecognizable at this point._

 _He wanted to vomit._

 _And suddenly Zabuza couldn't even remember his friend's name. It hurt too much to remember, because he would see a sad smile, the wrinkling skin beneath eyes that were too old for such a body, sharp, sharp eyes of a hunted predator, and Zabuza's chest constricted until his ribcage caved in and he couldn't breathe._

 _Nothing mattered anymore. Nothing, his loyalties, their friendship, the promises they had made to each other. Nothing, because Zabuza had been working so hard for that promise and his friend died. Murdered, body and mind tortured by the same people Zabuza protected every time a Chuunin would stamp 'mission success' on his reports in big, bold characters printed bright red._

 _So Zabuza made his way to the Ninja Academy. Today was the day they were holding the exams, and although he wasn't even enrolled yet, he was going to pass. Nothing would stop him. From the gates he could see a crowd of Genin hopefuls on the outside field, still unaware of the cruelty of the test that awaited them. He walked in._

 _"I'm going to enter the exam." He told one of the instructor, who glared at him and reached out a hand to pull him away._

 _Instead, Zabuza pulled out a tanto and just sliced at the instructor's wrist, aiming specifically for the veins. The man stumbled back and yelled in pain, clutching his injured limb. A few students turned around at the sound and instantly blanched, frozen in place. While the man was distracted by the pain, Zabuza marched forward into the ring of students, who cowered at the blood covering most of his body and parted to let the younger boy pass._

 _"I'm assuming you know how this test goes. You're all going to be paired off, one by one, and made to kill the weaker one. I see that you all have prepared well. But you don't really know what this is about, do you? You think that this is a game. They surely will stop you from killing you classmates, your best friend, right?" Zabuza chuckled darkly._

 _"I think a more serious display is needed. You think that this test would be easy, don't you? Since you've all worked soooo hard for it and already came this far, right? Since there's nothing to lose, isn't it? Then prepare yourselves. Since I'm going to kill you, all of you." Zabuza spoke, his eyes dry, utterly calm._

 _The kids all looked disturbed, because that was what they were. They were kids. Wannabe shinobi of the bloodiest village, true, but still children with a vague knowledge of loss and death. Zabuza on the other hand, wasn't, not anymore. Hadn't been since he had held his only friend's gutted body. His friend, who was dead because he wasn't there to protect him._

 _A girl cried out in fright. Zabuza turned to smile at her. An adult screamed something in the distance._

 _Zabuza chuckled again and dug his tanto into the side on the boy nearest to him._

 _They screamed._

 _They screamed and yelled and pulled, ran away desperately, and Zabuza laughed in the midst of all the madness because he was in the eye of the storm and he felt calm. Calm, as he sliced through someone's jugular. Calm, as he dug his fist into another's chest. Calm, as he stabbed another in the eye. Calm, calm, calm._

 _They ran and he chased, mauled them, pinned them to the ground as the cried for help, and it wasn't enough. He was the ruthless killer, their worst nightmare's incarnation, yet he didn't feel the satisfaction he longed for._

 _When the haze lifted and Zabuza could see the grey, cloudy sky again, he was breathing hard and his lungs heaved._

 _It didn't work, and all the kids were on the floor, bodies pulled apart just like his friend's had been, and in his mind Zabuza was still so, so calm._

 _"You…." The instructor said, shell-shocked, wrist still bleeding and frozen in his fighting stance. He looked about ready to attack Zabuza himself._

 _Instead someone else walked in, someone with the light footfall of a high-ranking shinobi and the undeniable air of a person who hungered for power._

 _"Don't touch him. He's proved himself worthy of becoming a ninja. Boy! You will follow my every order. Another outburst like this? It will not be allowed. You will learn to control yourself."_

 _Before Zabuza even fully understood what was happening, he was handed a forehead protector._

 _Blood dripped down his face, but on his mouth a painful grin was spread. An empty chuckle escaped him yet again._

 _He had become a shinobi, and his friend wasn't there to see him succeed._

 _Zabuza finally understood the meaning of fighting. Of killing._

 _He sheathed his tanto and followed the man._

…

Naruto had never felt such anger in his life. He wanted to go to the Mist and tear everything down, destroy everything in the city, slaughter its inhabitants. He wanted to watch the village burn, razed to the ground. They would deserve no less, for killing his only friend, someone who had only been trying to live. All because he had been born different, gifted with a bloodline that their village cursed. The anger was causing his blood to boil. Little tendrils of pure energy licked at his skin, and he wasn't sure if that was his own chakra or the Kyuubi's at this point.

He snarled, then inhaled deeply. As he attempted to calm down, Naruto couldn't help but to realize that there were more than a few shared traits between him and Zabuza. They had both known hate and vengeance, loss and grief. The bitter taste of failure and the knowledge of being so powerful, but never when it truly mattered. Perhaps they lived it in different ways, with different purposes, but at the end they were both monsters, feared by their village. Naruto smiled at that. They were both determined to become the leader of their village despite their shortcomings.

Yet they were not the same. Naruto didn't know whether he was the type of person to kill mindlessly like that. If he'd been in those circumstances, would he have chosen/done any different? The answer was probably no, even if he'd like to think he would be the better person. Those kids hadn't done anything to Zabuza, or Naruto, but they were still part of the village that had killed his friend. Perhaps not directly, but they knew about the bloodline purges and they allowed it, encouraged t, and that was unforgivable. Chances were that most of them weren't planning on changing anything. They were worshipers of the current regimen. They were taught to be like that, undoubtedly.

Naruto knew this, because the Academy at the Leaf was similar. They obviously taught many more values, and the students there had much more freedom to be children and not little soldiers, but the core was still the same. They learned how to fight, how to love nothing else but their village, how to discriminate against all else. They were taught to believe that they were superior to others, both morally and skill-wise. They were taught about the Will of Fire.

Brainwashing, only wrapped into a prettier and less risky package.

It was all so confusing, but somehow Naruto could accept the fact that he would have murdered those children. He understood the logic of revenge after all, but his feelings were much more confusing. The killing was justified, yet Naruto's heart did weird things in his chest.

As if it was unforgivable for forgiving it for reasons beyond his grasp.

The logic was there, but it was more about what he was feeling. Like it was forgivable for reasons beyond his grasp.

…

 _He felt exhausted; he always did ever since he had started his shinobi career. He was trained into the ground by his 'sensei', a member of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist. He was ruthless, all sharp teeth and sharper taunts. Somehow, though, Zabuza knew that his sensei cared for him. All the training was followed by, 'I know you have a lot of potential, you can take more than this' or even during the training he would say things like, 'You can take it Zabu-chan, because you clearly have something to work toward. Only the strong people do.'_

 _Zabuza made sure to never mention just what his goals were._

 _"One day, you're going to take my place as a swordsman. When you are strong enough, you will take this blade from me, and the first blood it tastes at your hand will be mine. I will die knowing that I did right by my Kage, creating such a useful weapon." The man had once said._

 _So Zabuza knew he couldn't allow himself to care for the man, despite the fact that he cared for Zabuza in some way._

 _Training with him went on for years, and Zabuza's skill in swordsmanship skyrocketed. When he was around twelve, after a training session, both sensei and apprentice were seated next to each other, eating a meal before they would start their second training session of the day, and Zabuza's sensei finally spoke up with an interesting fact, "This sword that I wield, it's known as the Decapitating Executioner's Blade, The Mizukage lets me handle most of the executions, since the strength of my blade is determined by the quantity of its victims. Just as a wolf grows stronger with each prey it kills, Kubikiribocho feeds on the blood of its victims to become stronger, faster, and sharper, and the blood of those filthy bloodlines is especially pleasing."_

 _Zabuza tensed._

 _"Kubikiribocho… Sounds like the kind of weapon you'd use to take someone's' limbs off." He kept his voice deceptively light._

 _"That is true. The primary use for the sword is taking off large body parts, heads, arms, and legs, anything that will permanently cripple the opponent. It isn't the most agile of swords, but it's lethal all the same. But I'm sure that The Demon of the Mist, of all people, wouldn't fear such a weapon."_

 _"Is that so? Many have tasted my blade before… but it seems like you haven't. Let me show you then, what true fear is."_

 _Zabuza didn't bother to wait for a reply._

 _As it did many years ago, the rage almost blinded him again. But no fear held him back this time, because what he was about to do wouldn't be punished. After all, his sensei has asked for a honorable death at his hand after the mastery of his sword, so why would it matter if the man passed on a few years earlier than intended?_

 _He finally allowed the rage to take him over._

 _When the rage/crimson red of hate faded, blood still pumping in his veins, Zabuza looked down at the mangled body of his instructor. A small kick and the head rolled away, glazer-over eyes still open, staring at him lifelessly in accusation. Just as his sensei had predicted, he was holding the Executioner's blade, coated in his own teacher's blood._

 _A fitting end for a man such as him._

...

There had been a moments in Naruto's life where he'd thought he had it hard. No one around to protect him from the villagers, no one to care for him, no one to love him, nothing. Now Naruto knew that in some ways, he had it pretty damn good. He wasn't raised in the Mist, wasn't raised as a weapon that was intended to slaughter… Instead, he was in the Leaf's Academy, learning the foundations of teamwork, the Will of Fire, and spending most of his time doing pranks and learning cool jutsus.

Naruto hasn't had a pleasant childhood by any means, but he was still allowed to be a child.

The appreciation that Naruto felt toward his village made him all the more determined to protect it. The Leaf would never come to what the Mist had - Naruto simply wouldn't allow it.

Yet the satisfaction and the relief that flooded his sense at the sight of Zabuza's dead teacher worried him. It felt too good. It made sense, considering the fact the man had clearly enough killed the only friend that Naruto had, but still… It felt almost wrong to be so happy about his death. Ultimately, Naruto was raised with far better morals than Zabuza was, so that made sense. Even with their 'mixing' he was still Naruto. It wasn't that Naruto regretted killing the man, but he just wished that he could feel more of the usual guilt at killing a man, deserving or not.

Suddenly, Naruto sat up on his bed and pulled his sword onto his lap, running his hand over the dull side of the sword. He could practically feel the blood pooling on it, dripping onto the floor. How many people had he killed using this sword? Probably hundreds, considering his previous kill record before he even became one of the elites.

"I guess if I end up wanting to change the legacy of the blade, I must start now." Naruto spoke to himself, determination settling in his tone.

To change something, one must first understand it. Naruto continued to lay a hand on his sword as he closed his eyes, intending to call up the memories of using it.

…

 _Zabuza as an ANBU member, using the Kirigakure no Jutsu and the silent killing technique in conjunction with the Kubikiribōchō to take out dozens of enemies that the Kage had pointed him toward. Solo missions, again and again, killing more and more. It was okay though, because with each kill his sword remained strong with the conviction and righteousness of his goal. All things done were so that Zabuza could be stronger, strong enough to take down their Kage and create a better Mist._

 _…_

 _Zabuza was fighting his fellow Seven Swordsman of the Mist, and he could beat them all, except one. The stupid fish face was far too skilled for him, shaving literal pieces of Kubikiribōchō every time they clashed together. It wouldn't remain that way though, because one day Zabuza would rise above that._

 _…_

 _Zabuza could have sworn he was ready, but the attempt had failed. His sword was in tatters, only the very handle and the barest of the actual blade remained. Of course, Zabuza knew that the blade would fix itself, but it represented more than just failure. It was the utterly broken promise that he had made with his first friend. He had failed, his one chance to take the bastard down, and he failed. Strong as he was, there was no way that Zabuza would be able to take down an army all by himself. That was what the Mizukage had after all, a whole army at his beck and call._

 _The blade started to regenerate itself, almost as though recognizing the conviction that came back to its user._

 _"If he has an army… Well I guess I'll just have to get my own." A devious, dark smile crossed Zabuza's face, as he continued to hide away from the ANBU that were pursuing him. Once he lost them, the real work could begin._

…

Naruto opened his eyes with a snap, but a smile was on his face this time. Times had been difficult and most of his life painted with blood, but he'd been wrong – Naruto had never been happier to be wrong. The blade didn't need a different legacy, the one that it already had was more than enough. Perhaps Zabuza had went about it the wrong way, or at least had not made all the right choices, but it had been used to protect, to forge ahead on a path to a goal that was more than worthy. A goal that Naruto shared, despite the fact it was now for another village. With every memory of Zabuza's, Naruto just felt himself loving the Leaf more.

His reasoning wasn't childish recognition anymore, if it really ever was.

The rest of the memories would come, but Naruto knew that there were more important things to be doing on a day like this. He needed to get himself prepared for training. He'd seen all he needed to see, he knew that the new part of him was a worthy being, and now it was time to live up to that, like he'd promised himself at the start of it all.

This meant that he needed to figure out just what he needed to get and do before the real training began.

There were two weeks before the team would be getting back to doing missions, which meant he needed to at least correct his form and begin training before that. He also needed different clothing, because the bright orange jumpsuit was just plain stupid. Naruto himself had never really liked the damn thing. Sure, he liked orange, but the jumpsuit was all the villagers would let him buy. He had never bothered to fight it, and figured that it was still better than nothing. But now, he won't allow it anymore.

He'd have to use the Transformation Jutsu to sneak into a decent store. So clothes, weights, chakra paper, and books or scrolls in all the subjects that he would be relearning. To cover up the fact that he had memories of a different life.

Naruto was almost shocked that he felt the need to cover it up, but it was just so personal now. Why should he have to explain to people that he was Zabuza and Naruto? They wouldn't understand anyway, the way that Naruto and Zabuza mixed together just wasn't something that someone else COULD understand.

They were so alike, but so different.

Maybe in some ways Sasuke could understand, with the way he had so many layers hidden under his cold personality. Until that happened though, Naruto vowed to keep other people out of his business regarding his own damn head.

Naruto quickly got up and showered, ate, and got dressed. It took less than a half an hour, considering the speed he was going. In all honesty, Naruto felt fully recovered, but he was beyond happy for the fact the team had such a long vacation. He without a doubt needed that time, even if it was for something more constructive than simply recovery. As soon as that thought left his head, he went through the hand signs for the transformation jutsu, and was out of his dingy little apartment just as quickly as he'd gotten ready.

…

It was nice, going around the village and not being glared at by the passerby's. It made Naruto feel determined as well, but he could dwell on the strength of his convictions later. Now there was a more pressing matter: his wardrobe.

Naruto knew that the Zabuza part of him was the main pushing factor for the new outfit. Zabuza was actually surprisingly vain about his looks, and he had a right to be, Zabuza wasn't a handsome man by civilian standards, but Naruto now knew with the new memories that Zabuza's scars and sharp teeth had been the farthest thing from unattractive to a shinobi. Naruto could only hope that he grew up to be every bit as good looking as his past self had been. He quickly shook those thoughts out of his head and walked into the clothing store.

He was actually looking for something quite specific.

He wanted something similar to the outfit that he'd died in; only, he wanted it to be black and orange, instead of black and blue. The orange would need to be a burnt shade, something along the lines of the quiet fiery color Konoha's forest gained in autumn so that it wouldn't affect his stealth - it was also Naruto's favourite colour, and after years of wearing it he wouldn't be giving it up anytime soon. Moreover, the colour would throw off the obvious Mist style. Leg and arm warmers like that were very popular in Mist, but the colour orange – not so much.

Once the outfit was complete, and paid for, Naruto put it on and threw out the jumpsuit. He just did it in the changing room, because there was no way he was wearing that thing for a moment longer.

He even put his now black forehead protector at an angle atop his head.

Getting the rest of the supplies was actually pretty easy. They were typical ninja supplies, and all ninja were allowed into the basic library after they became Genin. Some higher-level scrolls was sectioned off, but it was not very typical for ninja to even go in there, except the Jounin or the occasional dedicated Chuunin. Since Genin usually had their sensei to teach them, there was rarely the need to rely on the knowledge stored there. Sakura was actually one of the few Genin who bothered using the building. He took out books on Kenjutsu, Taijutsu, Tactics, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu, anything that he would need to hide the fact he was actually learning mainly from memories rather than honestly learning from the books.

When he got home, it was already getting dark. It had taken hours to go through memories that made Zabuza – well – Zabuza.

"I can actually do this…" Naruto suddenly whispered to himself, one of his typical grins spreading across his face, "Thank you Zabuza… Haku… I never would have gotten this chance without you…"

Because without the memories, and the sword, where would he be? Probably going down to Sasuke's place to foolishly ask for a spar, or to Sakura's to ask for a date, or to Kakashi's to ask for training the man had no intention of truly giving his students at the moment.

Instead, he had a real chance.

One that he would not waste.

 **R &R**


	3. The Training

**_Zanaru Chronicles: The Training_**

 _Summary:_ It wasn't something that was planned by either of them, but it would change the future. This time, it wasn't really Haku that had the biggest effect on Naruto, but rather, it was Zabuza. Only impression happens in the most unexpected of ways.

 _Warnings:_ Cannon typical violence, homosexual relationships, language, and sexual content.

 _Authour Note:_ This will most likely be the last chapter before he meets up for the more ploty parts of the story. So Chunin-exams incoming! I hate writing training with a burning passion. This is likely because of just how shit I am at it. Still, let me know what you guys think about how the story is going and what you think about Naruto/Zabuza as a character. I'm not exceptionally happy with the way it's going so far. But I like the plot I have planned for the story, so I'll power through this stuff.

Edit: 3/28/17: **Giou Yomi** has gone through my trash writing and made it a master piece once again. I honestly have one of the most amazing beta-readers ever and I am so incredibly thankful.

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When it came to Konohagakure, two things defined their village: their massive forest, and the unusual amount of readily available training space. Typically, each ninja or team was assigned a training ground for about an hour; all you had to do was ask for it. There was a building where you could schedule a time for training, and there was pretty much always an open spot. This had to do with the fact that shinobi were constantly moving in and out of the village for missions, and so most of the reservations end up being cancelled. Naruto got dressed in his new outfit, grabbed his scrolls, secured kubikiribocho on his back with a touch of chakra and leap out of his window, heading for the training fields farthest from the village.

He had put himself down at training ground 15 for eight hours of training a day. Naruto had chosen this particular field because it had a deep pond filled with clear water, perfect for working on his chakra control and a few of Zabuza's jutsus that he might be able to pull off.

If he wanted to use any of the jutsu he now had floating around in his head, he would need to be able to control his chakra better. If he did not, then he'd just over power all the jutsu, ending up with the water blowing up in his face. If anything was good about the meld as far as the Zabuza part of him could consider, it would be the sheer amount of chakra he now had. It definitely occurred to Naruto just how much more chakra he had than a normal person. He didn't have something to accurately measure himself against before, but now that he had an A-rank missing-nin's knowledge to his disposal… The amount of chakra that he had was almost sickening. Not that it was a bad thing, but the parts of him that knew just how much of the chakra he was wasting… It just felt wrong.

It was something that he could start to fix, right now.

He recently discovered the fact that the Shadow Clones he created would give him their memories when dispelled. This was incredibly useful for training. It could certain be considered cheating to use this ability to train faster, but if he learned one thing from the mission in the Wave, it's to use all the skills you have in your arsenal, unfair advantage or not.

The best way to utilize them would be to have the clones do chakra exercises and jutsu practice while the real Naruto did Taijutsu and Kenjutsu to build up his muscles and getting started on his muscle memory. For now, any jutsu more complicated than the basics was out of the question. The clones would probably just end up blowing themselves up if they tried Suiton jutsu at the moment. Therefore, mastering the tree walking exercise has to be done as soon as possible. After the clones had that down, he could start on the water walking exercise. Of course, considering the massive information overload he just recovered from, it probably wasn't a good idea to make more than five clones for something like this. In fact, it probably wasn't EVER a good idea.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," Naruto spoke, his fingers in the proper hand sign, creating five clones. He waited a few seconds for the smoke screen to dissipate.

"I'm assuming you already know what to do."

The clones looked towards him with exasperation written clearly on their identical features. A twinge of sympathy ran through Naruto. Even if they were clones, they were still replicas of himself, and he wouldn't ever want to do the grunt work that he just assigned them.

Once Naruto made sure that they were doing their designated tasks, he headed towards the edges of the training field and sat down, his back against a tree. He opened the Kenjutsu book and settled it in his lap. However, instead of reading the book, he squinted his eyes and made sure that his bangs covered them. It was an old trick he often used in the Academy to sleep during classes. After making sure that he was comfortably leaning against the tree without the bark digging into his skin, he relaxed and allowed his thoughts to drift.

All went black for a second before he found himself in the now familiar view of high ceilings and dripping sewer water.

He closed his eyes again. He was searching for something very specific, and the didn't want to be distracted by his urge to explore his mindscape. Soon enough, the familiar weight of Kubikiribocho pressed into his palm and the feeling of wind and misty air swept over his skin. His sword arm moved, and he naturally leaned forward, his left leg stepping forward and body angled perfectly to begin the first movement of his katas.

Naruto smiled, and he began.

With the ease of years of practice, he slipped into the routine. Swing, parry, block, roll. Stand back up, kick, and a downwards slash. Information from his past life flowed through his mind, easier than before. That had likely to do with practice and the acceptance of that part of himself.

Sooner than expected, he had gone through all of the katas. Sweat trickled down his brow and Naruto wiped it off with his arm.

He opened his eyes.

The light, sunny Konoha weather greeted him again. With a light sigh, Naruto stood up and grasped his sword with his dominant hand. He swung it in front of him, wincing at the pull on his muscles.

It was clear that this wouldn't be an easy training session. He would have to practically destroy his body to get anywhere close to the level that he'd been at his past life. He huffed angrily. Hell, when he was Zabuza he was FAR beyond this level at the age of twelve.

Thinking pathetically on his past skill wouldn't change anything though; instead, he would need to look forward.

So Naruto started by doing basic slashes with his sword. He repeated the same movement, intending to build up the muscle. When his muscles and wrist ached fiercely and he could barely life his dominant arm, he switched to his left arm to let himself rest. Doing more complicated kata could wait until after he was actually able to wield the sword with one hand effectively.

"Five… Six… Seven… Eight..." Naruto counted as he lost himself in the rhythm of it all.

As he did the repetitions, he thought to the kenjutsu katas he'd created. It wasn't easy to find a fighting style using such a huge sword, and he had killed his sensei before he could be taught the proper style. It was actually surprisingly fluid, not something you would expect from sword fighting with such a massive weapon. It was meant to allow smooth transitions between hands. The blade never stopped, the momentum building speed in both blows and his own movements. He had based it on multiple Bojutsu styles, a fighting style that was not preferred by many, yet extremely versatile.

"One of you, dispel." Naruto suddenly ordered. Of course, they had to use rock, paper, scissors, to decide which one would dispel themselves.

Naruto waited patiently as the squabbled and fought a bit over who was the winner, before a misplaced punch abruptly ended the argument. Naruto blinked, and suddenly he had a few hours' worth of memories of climbing trees and falling on his behind. The progress was undeniable. The clone was actually able to stand upside down on a branch without movement. He nodded. That was enough for today, though he will have to work on incorporating movement later on. He would hardly be safe from his enemies if he was to simply stand on a branch and hope that them run past him.

"All right, the rest of you go start on water walking."

The remaining four clones grumbled a bit and shot him dirty looks before removing their jackets and heading towards the pond. Suddenly, one of them pushed another one into the water and laughed uproariously as the clone spluttered and cursed at him. The drenched clone then grabbed his assailant by the ankle and pulled him into the water with a splash, a scowl on his face. Naruto sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

This was going to be a rather painstaking process, wasn't it?

…

Five/eight straight hours of training would have driven anyone other than Naruto Uzumaki to the hospital with major injuries. Kyuubi was clearly paying his rent however, because even with all the muscle training he was barely sore as he walked home. He also had a whole slew of memories from the/dispelled clones, but eventually they all got to the point where they could at least stand sparingly on the water.

As he was walking, a little surprise started to follow him.

A square box with cut-out eyes.

Naruto withheld the urge to roll his eyes, but there was a fond feeling tickling the back of his mind.

"Konohamaru, your stealth is shit." Naruto plainly stated, and the box was thrown away dramatically to reveal his little 'apprentice' wearing goggles similar to those Naruto had less than a year ago.

"Don't be so mean boss, I'll catch up to you in no time!" He said it with a huge grin, "Want to play ninja with me?"

Playing ninja was a pretty typical thing in this village. Naruto himself had never been invited to a game of it before this very moment. Despite how much of Zabuza's stoicism had permeated his emotions, he couldn't stop himself from smiling at Konohamaru

"I have a better idea. Instead of just playing the game, we can make it into a training experience. We'll play hide and seek, but the ninja way." Naruto grinned, "I'll show you something."

He needed to gain back the ability to walk silently if he was ever going to be able to use the silent killing technique again. No self-respecting ninja would ever be caught in a mission because they walked over a twig.

Konohamaru looked ecstatic at the thought of learning a new skill. "I'm ready, Boss!" He suddenly looked suspiciously toward Naruto, "But don't think that I'll be so grateful that I'd hand the Hokage position over to you though."

Naruto chuckled at the childish frown. "I'd never think that, Kono-chan. Now, here's what we'll do."

A few minutes later, they were walking out of a convenience store with protein bars. It wasn't exactly the ramen that Naruto had been hoping for, as protein bars generally lacked in taste, but the time with his little 'apprentice' would be worth it. What he was about to do some what reminded him of training a young Haku. Despite not being anywhere near as immature as Kono-chan was, Haku was still a kid. The memories remained bittersweet, but Naruto was glad that he had them.

"Alright, so when it comes to walking silently, you have to make sure that the entire sole of your foot lies on the ground before you shift your weight onto it. You don't want to put your whole foot foot down at once. Instead, stay on the side of your foot and avoid stomping down on the ground. If you're trailing a person or an animal, match your footsteps to theirs to mask the sound. Now, try to do this slowly.

As Naruto spoke, he physically showed Konohamaru what he was talking about. The Academy Student was taking the words very seriously, which was good, because Naruto would need the practice. When Konohamaru got the basics down, Naruto told him to try to go a bit quicker.

"When you walk faster, you would naturally tend to put your weight into the front of your feet. Don't do that. Instead, put your heels down first, then transition the weight to the front without lifting your foot. Keep an eye on the ground to avoid stepping on anything that would make noise."

It took a bit longer, but eventually they both were able to slowly jog without making too much of a racket. It wasn't the best, but it would do for now.

"Alright, this is how the game goes. I will go into the forest. Thirty seconds later, you come in and try to find me. My objective is to get behind you without being seen, and poke the back of your neck. If I do that, I win. If you catch me at any point, you win."

"I'll definitely catch you boss, kore!"

Was that verbal tick something he picked up from me? Naruto thought silently, before getting himself in a ready position.

Then he ran.

He carefully thought of every step that he made, making sure to keep his foot's positioning correct. Konoha's dense forests offered an unlimited amount of hiding spots. Once he was carefully hidden between the roots of a giant tree and his bright hair covered with leaves, Naruto took the chance to try suppressing his impressive/massive amount of chakra. It was like trying to rein in a bull – that is to say, he had little to no success. He'd need a fairly good dose of chakra control to even manage suppressing an average Jounin's chakra reserves, and Naruto had much more than that.

But Naruto was nothing if extremely stubborn, and he was determined to reach the same level of stealth he had achieved as Zabuza. A ninja's worth was his ability to kill a target undetected, and a large part of their training went into staying unseen. Sure, flashy jutsus were useful on a battlefield, but ninjas were never meant for large-scale battles like samurai tended to be. Even the Great Shinobi Wars were mostly fought on small fronts and skirmishes, assassination a much more prefered tactic than all-out war. Perhaps Naruto had once been mesmerized by grand fire balls and summoned waterfalls, but he now also knew the worth of a well-placed needle. Haku was the proof of that.

But for now, his incapability of hiding his chakra wasn't crucial to this little game. Konohamaru was hardly a sensor, and they weren't in enemy territory.

In the end, Naruto won all the rounds of the game, but Konohamaru had actually managed to almost sneak up on him if not for the leaf he had stopped on mere feet away from where Naruto had been. It warmed Naruto's heart in a weird way, seeing someone he was teaching improving like that. It wasn't like he liked teaching, he didn't… But he could appreciate a job well done.

Yeah, that was it.

It was getting dark when Naruto and Konohamaru stopped playing. Naruto decided to walk the kid home, just to make sure. Seeing as how he was the Hokage's grandson, he probably had a few ANBU around him at all times to protect him , but that didn't mean Naruto should just let the kid go home alone. After all, Naruto was older and so was responsible for Konohamaru's well-being.

It was kids like Konohamaru that deserved a better future, one without war, or at least, one where they were untouched by it. The Leaf was indisputably better than the Mist in that regard, but that didn't mean Naruto couldn't make it better when he became Hokage. He would be, one day.

Just not anytime soon.

First, he needed to get to a decent Genin level.

Twelve more days before the team would meet again. If things continued at this pace, Naruto was not worried all that much about not being able to protect himself on the next mission. He was quickly regaining his abilities.

It would be enough, because Naruto would make it so. He had a kid like Konohamaru looking up to him after all. That was a lot to live up to.

A feral grin split his lips and stretched the dark whiskers on his cheeks.

He couldn't wait.

 **R &R**


	4. The Meeting

**_Zanaru Chronicles: The Meeting_**

 _Summary:_ It wasn't something that was planned by either of them, but it would change the future. This time, it wasn't really Haku that had the biggest effect on Naruto, but rather, it was Zabuza. Only impression happens in the most unexpected of ways.

 _Warnings:_ Cannon typical violence, homosexual relationships, language, and sexual content.

 _Authour Note:_ I've planned out the majority of interactions coming up in the exam. I'm pretty happy with it all so far - Although it is all in my head and not on paper. If you have any suggestions now would be the time to **shoot me a review** and let me know your opinion. I really like my Kakashi right now, he seems almost playful, but super repressed. He just doesn't get emotions, good thing Iruka's around! Sasuke finally makes an appearance, he might be a bit OOC? I like him this way, it's my headcannon for him after risking his life to save Naruto. He definitely respects Naruto, especially considering the changes he'd recently undergone... Even if he doesn't want to admit it. Regardless, enjoy this chapter!

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It had been a busy few weeks.

That was the simplest way of putting it.

Naruto had trained himself into the ground in ways that would kill a lesser ninja. Kyuubi was more than a lifesaver, for the first time in Naruto's life, the fox that caused him so many issues was actually a tool. Something useful instead of something that constantly hurt Naruto. He was able to actually wield his Kubikiribōchō in a regular length battle. Even if the battle was between him and his own clones. That didn't even bring to attention the amount of progress Naruto obtained the second that he was able to water walk accurately. It took a few days, but once water walking was finished, Naruto had clones work on more difficult chakra control exercises, like senbon sticking, walking up waterfalls, and such. He had three clones working on different types of chakra control, and another two working on gaining back several jutsu. The most important one being Kirigakure no Jutsu.

Kirigakure no Jutsu was quickly mastered, well, perhaps not mastered. It was almost a good thing to have too much chakra in this case. It made the jutsu bigger and thicker… It was just the fact that Naruto did not MEAN to make it so big and thick that was almost disturbing.

Going from being able to control your chakra incredibly well, to having none of that control, was exceptionally disorienting.

The only thing that Naruto neglected was Genjutsu and Taijutsu. When it came to Genjutsu, he could not practice any until after his chakra control became better, so there was nothing for that. In Taijutsu, well, it was difficult to find time to practice both Taijutsu and Kenjutsu, so Naruto made the choice. Besides, Kenjutsu undoubtedly helps form your Taijutsu even when you did not specifically go about training it.

Regardless – Naruto was quite happy with how well he was coming along.

The only mildly upsetting thing about today was the fact that the team meeting was today. Naruto didn't really want to attend; it was an interruption to his training that he wished could be avoided. It would be nice to have the whole year for just training so that he could catch up to a reasonable level. He didn't have that courtesy though, in all likelihood, the moment that all team members were present, Kakashi would be assigning them some D-Rank mission.

…

Naruto was the first member at their traditional meeting spot. He quickly decided that he had better things to do than waste his time waiting a few hours for Kakashi to show up. Instead, he summoned some Shadow Clones and set them off, three to practice chakra control, one to practice the water bullet technique - Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu, and another one to practice the more advanced dragon version - Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu.

The real Naruto took out his sword and started to practice one of the more difficult kata's he had. It was designed to never allow the blade to stop movement, keeping the momentum going throughout the whole thing.

It was actually rather fun, you could just keep doing it for hours.

It made sense that it was almost a game, considering Naruto had come up with it when he was twelve.

Naruto could hear one of his teammates approaching about thirty minutes later. He continued to swing his sword, but switched the direction he was looking to see Sasuke staring at him in mild shock.

"Dope… Why the change?" He seemed to regain himself, looking his teammate up and down.

Naruto gave his almost-friend a toothy grin, panting lightly as he continued the kata even when talking, "Thought it was time to take things a bit more seriously. Besides, I look totally badass now."

It was nice to be more childish, not dwelling totally on training as he had been. The air between Sasuke and Naruto was more… friendly? The blonde was reminded of his only friend back in Mist whenever he looked at Sasuke now, but he wouldn't make the same mistake with Sasuke as he had back at in the Mist.

Sasuke didn't say anything in return, but raised a skeptic eyebrow toward his blonde teammate.

Sakura came soon after.

"Naruto-baka, don't swing that thing around like that! You'll hurt someone!" She exclaimed, interrupting the friendly air that had fallen between the Uchiha and Uzumaki.

Naruto fought the urge to sigh. He knew Sakura after all; she was nearly as stubborn as Naruto himself was. Somehow, though, Naruto couldn't help but look down on her. She didn't take being a ninja seriously, she was a loud-mouthed brat about it, and she hadn't been through something hard her whole life. Still, if she were trying to get him to stop, the fan girl would be incredibly annoying until she got her way.

Naruto slowed the momentum of his blade until a stop. His arms felt tired, muscles pulled and stretched considering the flexible ability you needed for the kata wasn't something this body was used too, but the feeling started to fade almost immediately.

"I know what I'm doing Sakura, I've been practicing for the past few weeks after all." He cast an annoyed glance toward the girl, before turning back to his male teammate, "Want to spar with me?"

Sasuke normally would have turned him down. It was no fun fighting against someone that you knew you could easily beat. However, he looked Naruto over again, the changes were apparent in the blonde. The change in attitude was also striking, even toward Sakura. He looked a lot like Zabuza actually, not only in clothing, but also in demeanor. He just looked… Lighter than the now passed swordsman, "Alright."

"Just Taijutsu though." Naruto cautioned as they moved toward the grassed training area, Sasuke following after.

"You don't want to try that new sword of yours in a spar?" Sasuke asked, hiding his incredulous tone, barely. Such restrain really wasn't like Naruto, Sasuke would have thought he'd practically be exploding with desire to show off his new 'skill' should it even exist.

Then again, Sasuke didn't know about the blade in question like Naruto did. Kubikiribōchō was a blade that bathed in blood of hundreds of shinobi, and it was hungry. In fact, the blade was literally hungry – it ate the blood of the enemies to strengthen itself. Like most of the blades the Seven Swordsman of the Mist used, Kubikiribōchō was somewhat sentient, and its power wasn't what people typically assumed. It wasn't wrong to say it was practically indestructible, using the blood of its fallen enemies to retain itself, but that also wasn't the full truth. If the blade liked its master, and didn't like the opponent, it would force the death of the opponent.

How did the sword do this?

Kubikiribōchō had drunk so much blood over the years, became so hungry, that if it wanted… Well… The sword could literally attract blood from its opponents. It took a massive amount of chakra from the swords master, in addition to also sucking up the master's blood as well – though a lesser amount. It was something the master could stop, but sometimes the sword could over ride that, if only for a few moments. Kubikiribōchō didn't like to lose.

It just wasn't worth chancing, using Kubikiribōchō in a friendly spar. Sometimes it had a bad attitude, even as, Zabuza he'd never used his sword in a friendly spar. Well, unless it was against his fellow Seven Swordsman members.

"I've been practicing Kenjutsu a lot lately, but I've neglected my Taijutsu. So it's more than just a spar, it's also a training opportunity." Naruto explained, leaving the whole explanation over Kubikiribōchō out of it. Having to explain how he'd gotten that knowledge was just troublesome, and would undoubtedly lead to the discovery of the memories Naruto gained from Zabuza. A road he'd rather not go down.

Sasuke looked at Naruto considering, before just giving him an almost condensing look, "No matter how much training you do, you'll never be able to touch me, Dope."

"Teme!" But instead of anger that Naruto used to feel at these little interactions, he could feel his mouth spread into an over-enthusiastic grin. When he was Zabuza, the grin was intimidating, full of overly sharp teeth. He could only imagine what it looked like in his current life.

Both of them got into basic stances, loose and ready.

"Shouldn't we just sit here and wait for Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura suddenly interrupted, before shutting up as two heated glares went her way. One of them was holding slivers of killing intent.

Zabuza Momochi did _not_ like anyone interrupting his battles.

Sasuke and Naruto got back into ready positions, examining their opponents form. Both of them had relatively loose looking stances. Sasuke was surprised by this, because that meant Naruto had moved on from his typical simple drawling style. Loose stances were either for fluid/flexible movements, or for reactive styles. Uchiha had a reactive style, which made sense considering their doujutsu. Sasuke's interest was definitely peeked, and he dashed toward the dope, making the first move for once.

Naruto _bent_ out of the way of the attack, taking that moment to hook under Sasuke's ankle in an attempt to throw him off. It worked, and Naruto went to punch Sasuke to take advantage of the situation.

Sasuke, although shocked, quickly recovered and caught the fist the dope had so daringly attempted to throw. Instead of how a typical brawler would react, Naruto twisted his body and jumped behind Sasuke, intending to pull him into a chokehold. As he pulled the move, Sasuke didn't let go of Naruto's fist, but that didn't stop the blonde, instead his arm actually turned.

That in and of itself was shocking to Sasuke, and there wasn't another move that he could have made, Naruto had him.

It was the first time that he'd ever lost to Naruto.

Although it probably wouldn't continue like that.

Styles like the one that Naruto used just weren't typical in males. Sasuke had every right to be stunned by the sheer flexibility his opponent had displayed. Naruto hadn't ever actually shown himself to be so flexible before. Sasuke couldn't even comprehend just where Naruto would have learned something like that. The answer wasn't something the Uchiha would ever guess, and that made Naruto almost smug. Even back in the Mist, the style wasn't typically used by males. That didn't stop the determined Zabuza though. His Kenjutsu was all about fluid movements, and he wanted a Taijutsu to fit that. His fellows making fun of him for having a girlie style of Taijutsu only lasted until after he kicked all their asses and left them with several broken bones.

"Again." The Uchiha broke from his shock and demanded.

He just got the same mechanical grin as before, the blonde stepping back into place before Sasuke.

And they lunged.

Win, Naruto

Win, Naruto

Tie

Tie

Win, Sasuke

Win Sasuke

Win, Sasuke

Win Sasuke

Win, Naruto

Win, Sasuke

Win Sasuke

It started out in Naruto's favour, but eventually he stopped being able to surprise Sasuke with the style he'd been using. Uchiha were quick to adapt, although Naruto was getting in a good workout, so despite his pride being utterly _SMASHED_ by losing to a Genin, he accepted it with grace. Eventually the sparing came to an end, Kakashi would be here in less than half an hour and they needed to rest up. Both male Genin were panting considering the matches they'd just held.

Sasuke was finding Naruto in a new light.

The blonde truly was the Number One Most Surprising Ninja. Still, he wasn't even close to Sasuke's level. A few surprises made it though the Uchiha's guard, but he'd adapted.

Besides, even if Naruto were capable of catching up, Sasuke would just train harder. He had goals that would drive him farther than the blonde's idiotic dream, hatred to fuel him far more effectively than the ramen the blonde used to keep himself going.

Meanwhile, Naruto thought over the spars with inward distaste. Both as Naruto and Zabuza the idea of losing to Sasuke was pathetic. He was a Genin! Besides that, it did help him smooth out the style rather quickly. He would have to spar with Sasuke again. He was the perfect amount of strength for a sparring partner. The loses were also spurring Naruto into something else. Now that he had most of the Kenjutsu basics back and could fight with his sword, it was probably time to start with the weight training. Most shinobi didn't bother with it unless they were Taijutsu specialists, but no matter what your specification, the speed that weights built would be useful to a ninja.

 _CRACK_

The sound echoed louder than it should, and Naruto's senses snapped behind him. Before Naruto even knew what he was doing, He'd grabbed Kubikiribōchō and swung upward.

There was mild resistance, he'd hit something.

Without slowing the momentum from drawing and his first attack, Naruto swung the blade around as he himself moved around to face the person he'd just attacked, his senses still going haywire. It wasn't anyone that Naruto knew, and he was about to attack the ninja again. Suddenly though, he stopped himself.

Just what was he doing?

Just because this unknown ninja had appeared behind him didn't mean he was an enemy. There had been a hostile air, but that was now complete gone, replaced with … Surprise? Pride? A familiar chakra signature. Naruto could still barely feel outside of his own chakra considering just how massive it was, but he'd know the people he considered precious.

Iruka.

Guilt crashed down onto Naruto. Sure, he didn't know why the man had been so ready to attack Naruto, but the blonde had jumped to conclusions and followed his instincts, just on that, instinct. Suddenly, he could hear his teammates flood next to him, weapons drawn, although just who they were pointing those toward Naruto didn't know.

Just the guilt of attacking one of his precious people.

Haku had taught him better than that.

She would be looking down from heaven with a disappointed look, of this Zabuza was sure.

Before the situation could escalate anymore, Kakashi made an appearance, "Maamaa, my cute little Genin, calm down. Iruka-sensei, did they pass your little test?"

"Y-yes!" The disguised man stumbled, allowing the henge to drop. He lifted up his injured arm and rubbed his nose sheepishly, "You've really improved Naruto. I guess I should have known better than to sneak up on a ninja when underestimating them. Naruto showed impressive reflexes and instincts, and his teammates quickly rushed to his aid… Considering Naruto's change, I don't even want to know how much the others have improved."

Sucking in a deep breath and forcing his emotions down, Naruto smiled at the man, "I guess I've improved a lot, huh Iruka-sensei! I'll be Hokage in no time."

He puffed out his chest, even though he wasn't feeling particularly proud at the moment.

"Alright, since Iruka-sensei approves, you've been put forward for the Chunin Exam. Here's your forms, it's in five days, and you will be in the exam room at exactly twelve o'clock otherwise you won't be let in." Kakashi quickly handed over a few sheets of paper; the three Genin grabbed them, but were still pretty stunned by the whole situation.

Once it sunk in, all three students were rather ecstatic.

Naruto especially, was more than happy with this chance. Once you got Chunin, no more D-Rank's unless you were being punished. It was not only a good next step on his road to becoming Hokage, but it would also heal his pride a bit. He was an elite member of ANBU spec. forces, an A-Rank missing-nin, and somehow he was a Genin. Becoming a Chunin would sooth that sting a lot. Never mind the fact it was literally impossible for him to fail at this. Sure, he'd never taken the Chunin Exam's before, but he was at least mentally beyond that level.

From what he understood, Chunin exam's typically consisted of three different tests.

Shouldn't be much of a problem. Although it would have been nice to have experience from his past life, as Zabuza had killed his sensei and went from Genin straight to ANBU Elite.

"Alright kids, you're dismissed." Kakashi finally said, looking at his little students expressions with a weird feeling. It was warm… He'd have to ask Iruka once they left.

Although…

They soon left, Kakashi watching one in particular as they went. Naruto had come a long way in just a few weeks. It definitely proved how much potential the blonde had when he put his all into it. Going from Academy all the way to High Genin level was no small feat. That incline of ability would likely start to slow without a decent teacher. This meant that Kakashi was going to have to step up his game as far as teaching went. The exams would teach them a lesson, and after that, the team would hopefully be ready to learn – Especially Sakura. Although Kakashi did wonder where Naruto had learned the styles he was using, he ultimately just trusted his blonde student.

You should always trust your teammates, if no one else.

Both Kakashi and Iruka stood there for a moment after they were gone.

"It's almost sad, to see Naruto growing up like that…" Iruka murmured to his friend.

"I don't really know what I'm feeling, but it's not sad… It's warmer?" Kakashi quested, tilting his head to the side, his eye flickering over his companion, "How badly did he actually get you?"

"It's deep… An inch higher and to the left and he would have split my neck open…" Iruka finally admitted, but knew that it wasn't exactly Naruto's fault. He was just following the good instincts that should be in every shinobi, and the blonde didn't seem all that effected by it.

"I put them in the exams more as a lesson. They are good enough to survive, but not good enough to pass." Kakashi admitted, before an eye smile formed, "Somehow though, I think that they will surprise me."

They both walked off the training field, about to go their separate ways and head home, when suddenly Iruka spoke, "its called pride, Kakashi."

After which, Iruka took off toward his home. Kakashi looked in the direction that he was going now, something else warming him now. If the last warm feeling was pride, than just what did this one mean? Somehow, though, he thought better than to ask Iruka, it almost gave him a sting of embarrassment to even think about asking after this particular feeling.

Oh well, he'd figure it out.

 **R &R**

 **AN: Do you want Sakura to have a wake up call before or during the exams? Leave a review and let me know.**


	5. The Enemies

**_Zanaru Chronicles: The Enemies_**

 _Summary:_ It wasn't something that was planned by either of them, but it would change the future. This time, it wasn't really Haku that had the biggest effect on Naruto, but rather, it was Zabuza. Only impression happens in the most unexpected of ways.

 _Warnings:_ Cannon typical violence, homosexual relationships, language, and sexual content.

 _Authour_ Note: So, more Kono-chan and Naruto interactions this chapter! Last time they interacted, people really liked it. Cannon is boring, so we deviated here quite a bit. The first bit is boring as fuck, I hate training bits. I don't know how to make them more interesting though, and I know they need to be included for stuff to make sense... The parts after that hopefully make up for it! Although I do like the fact that Zabuza/Naruto is so cautious of Genjutsu users. It's logical for them to be. I have no intention of making Naruto some Genjutsu genius... But having a few? No reason not to.

I'm having a little bit of an issue on not having Naruto become over powered. It's hard to keep the balance. I've been keeping an eye on the stats that they have for him on the wiki, and his stats in this fic look like this: Ninjutsu 3.5 Taijutsu 2 Genjutsu 1.5 Intelligence 3.5 Strength 2.5 Speed 2.5 Stamina 4 Hand Seals 1. Let me know how you feel about the numbers and everything else that happens in a review! I love them.

...

..

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Five days until the Chunin exam.

In those five days, Naruto knew that he would need to boost his training as far as possible. The last thing that he wanted was to stay a Genin after this chance was handed to him on a silver platter.

The plan was simple. Naruto had promised himself that he wouldn't use more than five clones to train.

He lied.

This time though, he promised himself that he wouldn't allow himself to go over ten. The danger was too much to stretch the technique farther, as proved by Naruto almost dying from information overload when he gained the Zabuza part of him. Still, ten was more than adequate. Naruto wasn't much for math, but this was basic enough.

5 days to train. 12 hours a day for training. 11 separate people. That meant Naruto would get 660 hours of training instead of the 60 he would get without the clones. Still, Naruto promised himself that after the Chunin Exam's were done and over with, he'd lay off using this technique to train. The mental effects of it were relatively unknown. This was likely because there weren't a lot of people that could train this way. Most people didn't have the chakra to actually create 10 Shadow Clones, never mind the thousands that Naruto could summon if he were to put his mind to it.

Five of them would work on chakra control. Naruto was on the edge of being able to actually conceal his chakra, if he mastered the other chakra control exercises than it should be possible. If he could get those, he might actually start a few clones on Nature Transformation. It was a highly advanced form of chakra control after all. So not only would it help Naruto gain control over his chakra, but would also help him to gain more control and stability to his current Suiton techniques.

The other five clones were working on Genjutsu.

Zabuza hadn't been a huge Genjutsu user – But he'd been fearful of them.

Perhaps fearful wasn't the correct word, but he was definitely cautious. Naruto himself hadn't really understood the danger, but looking at it from his more mature point of view, it was beyond understandable. Genjutsu was dangerous, it manipulated the senses, and it left you open. Therefore, Zabuza learned a few. Only three, but the ones that he learned were useful. He also forced himself to train against one of the top Genjutsu users in Mist, taking several different torturous Genjutsu so that he learned how to dispel them.

Now that Naruto had nearly decent chakra control, he could try to get those skills back.

Even with five clones working on it, Zabuza was doubtful that he'd gain the ability back before exams.

The three Genjutsu were thus: A binding Genjutsu, A Genjutsu that adjusts the opponent's perception only slightly, and a Genjutsu that creates a blind spot in the senses.

All of which were extremely useful in Zabuza's line of work.

None of which were actually easy to use.

It had taken Zabuza years to get them down. Even if Naruto could pull through, the effects of the techniques would be weak at best. Regardless, it was still worth practicing. Especially releasing Genjutsu. The last thing Naruto needed was to be wide open to those people. They were the most dangerous type of Shinobi – The sly kind.

The real Naruto? He'd be working on physical conditioning, Taijutsu, and a bit more Kenjutsu. Taijutsu being the main point however.

…

One of the best things about doing weight training was the fact you didn't have to actually be in the training fields for it to work. You just went about your usual routine using them. At least, if you wanted to do it the lazy way. It was almost the more efficient way, as it usually was with laziness. Regardless, once Naruto had the weights on, he went through his Kenjutsu kata, moving into Taijutsu kata smoothly after about an hour of Kenjutsu. Two hours of Taijutsu, and Naruto was hungry.

This was likely because Kyuubi was helping the training along by healing Naruto. The healing made Naruto hungry, as it always had.

So, Naruto took advantage of the best part about weight training, and went to get something to eat.

Along the way though, Naruto came across a few troublemakers. To be more accurate, they were following him. Naruto couldn't help the small smile that grew on his face when he heard a familiar voice frantically whisper, "No, you gotta put your foot down before you put weight on it, kore!"

Seems Naruto's little apprentice had remembered his lesson from the other day.

"Kono-chan, you little brat! Everything I taught you about walking silently means nothing if you spew noise from your mouth!" Naruto exclaims, as he turns around to face the little brat who had been following him. Beside him were two people who Naruto didn't recognize, but Naruto could assume they were his friends, considering how close they were standing to the blonde's apprentice.

Konohamaru looked sheepish for a few seconds before he approached Naruto, his two friends trailing behind. One was a nerdy looking kid, the other was a female with weird hair, "Busted again, but don't worry Naruto-sensei, someday I'll definitely sneak up on you!"

Naruto couldn't help but nod along encouragingly, "Sure, try me at anytime. I have to warn you though; I'm always on guard from attacks from my brat apprentice."

Konohamaru didn't have the same maturity Haku did, but that didn't mean that the training exercises couldn't be the same. Naruto remembered telling Haku to attack him at anytime, and if the kid could catch his master off guard, then he won the little game. Even at 18, even after 8 years under Zabuza's teaching, Haku still couldn't – no – didn't, beat him at the little game they had. Haku just hadn't been suited for silent killing to the same extend Zabuza was.

Naruto shook the thoughts out of his head, instead paying more attention to the gaki in front of him.

"I'll definitely beat you someday! These are my teammates, they'll help me. He's Udon, and she's Moegi, together we make up Konohamaru Gundan!"

All three children went on to give some horrifyingly stupid pose.

Naruto walked over to Konohamaru and smacked a first onto his head, "Never do that again, gaki. You're my apprentice; you got to look cooler than that."

Naruto was more childish than he'd been as Zabuza after all. He cared more for appearances. Zabuza cared, but in more of a vein way. It was a subtle difference that Naruto wasn't even sure he could explain.

"What! But that totally looked badass…" Konohamaru said, looking almost confused, "But guess what boss! I was teaching them how to do the Kage Killer Jutsu that you showed me; Moegi didn't really like it… But I told her about how effective it was. You should definitely help us show her!"

Naruto gave a shark like grin, "I know just how to do it. Let's go find my sensei, we'll definitely show your teammates the awesomeness that is the Kage Killer! First things first though, we'll have to find him. That means we need to do information gathering!"

The three brats were looking at him attentively, Naruto tried not to let that look get to him. The most Naruto parts of him were glowing at the attention whether he wanted to avoid showing that feeling or not.

"First step of information gathering is pooling what you already know. Kakashi Hatake is an Elite Jounin, he's known throughout the world as one of the best ninja. He is a prodigy that graduated amazingly early and is one of the youngest to become Genin, Chunin, and Jounin. He is always late, giving stupid excuses for it, and he has only one eye showing, the rest of his face is covered." Naruto took a deep breath before looking at the three before him, "Do any of you know anything about him?"

He hadn't been expecting an answer, but he got one. Moegi raised her hand and waved it around with excitement, "You got something for us, Weird Hair?"

She just nodded her head, not even noticing the nickname in her want to answer, "Iruka-sensei definitely knows Kakashi-san! Kakashi-san came into the classroom one day to talk to Iruka-sensei."

That was actually extremely useful, "Alright then! Let's go talk to Iruka. On the way there, we can't let our potential target know, so we have to be quiet and quick. Do all of you know how to move quietly? Kono-chan told you right?"

Getting nods, Naruto motioned for the kids to follow him as they made their way to Iruka's apartment. It didn't take them five minutes to get there. They stopped about fifteen feet away from the building and hid in the shadows, "Alright, this part is important. We don't want Iruka to warn Kakashi-sensei so we need to be careful about how we go about this. So, you guys are going too hid here, and I'm going to ask Iruka were Kakashi is because I need some help with a technique. He knows Kakashi is my sensei, so he'll definitely buy it."

Getting nods of agreement, Naruto moved forward and, as soon as he made sure the kids were well hid, knocked on Iruka's door.

"Naruto-kun! What are you doing here?" However, the smile on his face a dead give away to the amount of the man cared for his former student.

"I'm looking for Kaka-sensei; he's supposed to help me with something." Naruto lied with a straight face, not giving anything away.

Iruka bought it without question, "Actually, he's just in the other room. Let me get him for you. Wait right here."

Here? Kakashi was…

Naruto just smiled, and moved his hands behind his back, creating a shadow clone to tell the kids the news. Iruka went into the other room and told Kakashi that his student was outside. It didn't take more than twenty seconds for Kakashi to be at the door, looking at the blonde in deep suspicion, "I don't remember having to help you with something Naru-chan…"

He didn't give away his suspicion, his voice just as lazed and teasing as it always was.

"Nope, you totally are going to help me! I have a point to make to a few kids."

With that, Naruto made a hand sign and exclaimed, "Oiroke no Jutsu"

Kakashi looked shocked, but there was little effect, even as Naruto made suggestive motions and comments. That's when Naruto knew something was wrong. Without the more mature part of himself, the Zabuza part, Naruto might have given up at that. Showing no effect at all was just abnormal after all. Instead, Naruto knew just what was going on here.

Iruka and Kakashi were more than friends!

Naruto poofed back into his own body and gave the man a sharp grin, "I see what's going on here. You're defiling my innocent sensei in there! The only reason that jutsu wouldn't work was if you weren't attracted to females. I've practiced it too much to fail after all."

Iruka made a choked sound, having just been about to scold Naruto, but got the full force of that little comment, Kakashi just looked bored, trying to hide any feelings he had on the matter, well being honestly confused as to what Naruto was talking about.

"Boss! You said it would work!" Konohamaru exclaimed, coming out of his hiding place, the other two also stumbling out.

"N-NARUTO! Don't go corrupting my students!" Iruka regained himself to say.

Naruto was still studying the Cyclopes-sensei, "Well… Good thing I made a version for every occasion."

Naruto made another hand sign, only this time, he made a group of Shadow Clones as well. After which, all the Shadow Clones exclaimed, "Oiroke: Otoko Dōshi no Jutsu"

The clones transformed themselves to look like Iruka, and gave similar suggestive motions and comments. This time, Kakashi was utterly knocked out, blood escaping from his mask. Naruto was pretty damn happy with the result of this, even though pretty uncomfortable about using Iruka as a way to prove the technique, the only reason he was okay with it was because it would definitely prove to Iruka that Kakashi was a pervert that he should go giving his virginity too.

No way was that innocent Iruka anything other than a virgin.

If he wasn't… Then Naruto would just have to kill the person that touched his sensei like that.

Leaving the passed out Kakashi and the shell-shocked Iruka, Naruto motioned toward the kids, "Now's time for the escape! You never know when they will wake up, so you need to get as far away as possible."

They took off running, fast as they could, not bothering with the stealth.

…

They ran practically half way across the whole village without issue. Of course, Konohamaru would be the one to accidentally bump into one of the most dangerous people currently in the whole place.

A red head with bags under his eyes, a weird looking gourd on his back, and a near crazed glaze in his eyes. He looked shocked at the very idea of someone having the audacity to dump into him, and turned that crazed look toward the young academy student. Naruto resisted the urge to pull out his sword and slit the fucker's throat for daring to look at his apprentice like that, "Sorry about that, this little brat wasn't paying attention where he was going…"

Naruto grabbed Konohamaru and forced him to bow, in apology.

"You… "The redhead seemed at a loss for words, but killing intent was leaking off of him. Naruto resisted the urge to pull out his sword again, and a blonde girl and weird looking guy with face paint stepped forward, extremely cautiously.

"Gaara… This isn't the place for you to lose control." The girl spoke, her tone attempting to sound calm, but in reality, it was shaking with fear.

"Kono-chan, why don't you and your friends go along? You can teach them the Kage Killer. Now they have no choice but to believe you."

Konohamaru, who had been staring at the person he'd bumped into with eyes full of utter terror, quickly nodded in agreement with Naruto and fled, dragging his confused friends after him.

The second the three were out of sight; Naruto lost all pretense of friendliness, and glared at the red head, releasing his own killer intent, "You shouldn't have looked at that particular brat like that. He's my little subordinate… If you ever look at him like that again, I'll kill you. I don't care who get's in my way, I'll ship your head back to your village and let the crows feast on what's left of your body."

Naruto never could control himself when it came to the protection of his precious people.

'Gaara' was staring at the blonde in confusing, the killing intent disappearing. He almost seemed to study the Genin in front of him. Standing up to him. Trying to protect the little kid? Didn't the blonde know what a monster he was, that he had no chance against someone like Gaara?

"We're sorry about this. My brother has some temper problems." The face painted male spoke, as if trying to smooth the situation over.

Naruto just glared.

"You're here for the Chunin Exam's am I right? Maybe you shouldn't aggravate the Hokage's Grandson if you want a safe stay here."

With that, Naruto turned on his heel and left. He did not intend to stay longer, or he might come to the realization it would be safer for Kono-chan if he just took care of the red headed problem right there and then.

Naruto stalked back to the training field, intending to get strong enough to face any threat that came his way. Even if they came in the form of half-crazed redheads.

…

Kakashi woke up from a not so clean dream with a start. Looking around, trying to gain understanding of the current situation, running through the last memories he'd have before he… passed… out…

Immediately sweat gathered on his forehead, he could feel the dried blood on his mask… Evidence that what he remembered had actually happened. Right in front of Iruka as well. Damn that blonde little brat, Kakashi would definitely get him back for this. Maybe making the troublemaker run around the village a few times would make him learn not to mess with his sensei like this. No, that wasn't good enough. He would have to hit the blonde where it really hurt.

The ramen.

That is right; Kakashi was going to burn all the ramen in the village. Naruto would definitely know he meant business if he did that.

"Kakashi-kun?" A soft voice spoke, familiar, Iruka.

Kakashi could feel his entire body tense. Damn, he really didn't know how to deal with a situation like this.

Therefore, the silver-haired man did what he always did when he was brought face to face with emotions that he did not understand. Not even looking at Iruka, he dashed out of the house like the coward that he was. The last thing he wanted was to see Iruka's face when he realized that Kakashi was nothing more than a pervert. Sure, the man knew about the books, but he also knew that they were a cover. There was no covering the perverted feelings that the copy-nin felt for the Chunin, not after the evidence was so clearly laid out.

Without even really knowing where he was going, Kakashi let his legs carry him.

It was no real surprise when he ended up in front of a very familiar monument.

Kakashi did not even know how long he had spent at the place on average. It was a lot though, just talking to the air, talking to his Minato-sensei, Obito… Rin…

"I don't know what to do, Obito…."

As always, he got no answer.

 **R &R**

 **AN: Do you think Sakura should have a wake up call before, during, or after the exams?**


	6. The Start

**_Zanaru Chronicles: The Start_**

 _Summary:_ It wasn't something that was planned by either of them, but it would change the future. This time, it wasn't really Haku that had the biggest effect on Naruto, but rather, it was Zabuza. Only impression happens in the most unexpected of ways.

 _Warnings:_ Cannon typical violence, homosexual relationships, language, and sexual content.

 _Authour_ Note: So, in all honesty I'm not the happiest with this chapter. Part of the reason behind it is the fact I felt almost like I was forcing the writing. This is probably because I'm most excited about what's going to happen AFTER this chapter. First part of the Chunin Exam's done and I can finally get into the fun stuff, know what I mean? Either way, Naruto and Shika have finally met, their interactions will be bland for awhile, but they will be happening. The relationship is going to be incredibly slow burning, if you couldn't already tell. Chapter updates after this will probably slow down, as I'm now working with a beta-reader to polish up the earilier chapters and from then on.

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The last five days could not have been more fruitful physically. It was easy to be thankful toward the Kyuubi – Despite what it had done to the village and Naruto's own life, when he helped Naruto out as he did. No one else could progress as quickly physically as Naruto did. Well, other demon holders could, some bloodlines… People that worked hard enough…. However, that was beside the point. The point being that it was incredibly rare to find someone that could actually train the way that the blonde did and not die well doing it.

He got dressed in another of the same outfit. Black pants, shirt, and sandals, but burnt orange arm and leg warmers. He also ditched any weights, knowing logically that they were too unwieldy to take off if a fight occurred in the exams. Finally, he put on his forehead protector and grabbed Kubikiribōchō.

Naruto quickly took to the roofs the second he was ready.

The team had got together and decided that they would be going into the exams about half an hour before it was time for them to begin. Not over eager, but also dangerously last minute. It was actually Sasuke that came up with that particular time frame, but Naruto couldn't bring himself to argue over it. The only thing wrong with the time frame was the fact that Sasuke brought it up rather curtly, borderline rude, and just expected the rest of the team to agree with him. Which they had, sometimes Naruto thought that he was giving the Uchiha too much leeway though.

Before it was because Naruto knew, what it was like to be lonely like Sasuke was. Now it was much different, now Naruto would look at Sasuke and see someone that no longer existed.

Naruto blanked his minds of such depressing thoughts. First and foremost, he needed to be in the right mindset when it came to exams. It wasn't even that Naruto thought they could touch him. However, Naruto also knew that the other teams were Konoha teams. This meant that the rest of his comrades were likely in for a wakeup call. Naruto hoped that he could make sure they weren't too harmed by said calling. Sakura being the biggest offender here. Naruto pretty much knew that Sasuke was broken of innocents regarding the ninja world in general.

The blonde shook his head once again, almost amused over the way his thoughts now got away from him. Before most of his thoughts were something like, 'Ramen… Training… Sasuke… Ramen…. Hokage Hokage Hokage'

Vast improvement.

So much so that Naruto had to admit, he was more Zabuza than he'd previously thought. It was more like a half-half deal then the one out of five ramen bowls that Naruto originally assumed.

A patch of bright pink was visible in the distance now, and it didn't take Naruto very long to catch up. Sasuke was already there, next to their pinkette teammate as Naruto dropped down from the buildings.

"Dope… I almost thought that you weren't coming." The Uchiha said, a familiar teasing smirk curling onto his lips.

Naruto just gave an overly large grin in return, "Well, I can't stay a Genin forever. Besides, someone has to be around to pull you out of the fire. Undoubtedly you are going to end up getting yourself in some deep shit that will have me rushing in to save your pansy ass."

"Hn."

Naruto could feel his eye twitch at the typical Uchiha response. What the absolute fuck was that little sound Sasuke made… It wasn't fucking cute, it wasn't a confirmation, hell, Sasuke could practically hold an entire conversation with just that sound considering how often and varied he used it. Utterly ridiculous.

"How about you Sakura? How are you feeling about the exams?" Naruto said, turning his attention toward their fan girl teammate.

Anyone could see that she was a ball of nerves.

"I'm sure that we will pass no problem. After all, we have Sasuke-kun on our teams, and he's the Rookie of the Year." She spoke haughtily.

Naruto really hated people who lied to themselves. He honestly would have thought Sakura's attitude would have gotten better after that Wave mission. That however, didn't seem to be the case. Perhaps seeing the teams from other Nations would help to install the idea of just how much of a spoiled brat she was about the whole ninja thing.

Sasuke didn't seem to take the comment well either, but refrained from showing a reaction. Only someone that watched Sasuke as much as Naruto had would have seen the small tightening of his eye lines.

The three Genin walked inside of the school as what they were – A team.

They meet their first roadblock the second that they walked in. There were a whole shit ton of Genin just standing there in front of one doorway in particular. This was curious, considering it wasn't the doorway that they were meant to be at. Even weirder was the fact it was guarded by two other Genin.

Naruto, who finally had enough chakra control to sense others rather well, could tell that those two weren't Genin. Never mind the fact that there were several Genjutsu active in the area. As impulsive as he was, there was no urge to suddenly rat those 'Genin' out. They were simply weeding out those that weren't meant to be in the exam.

Then something interesting happened. A girl went up to the 'Genin' her hair in buns and practically begging the guards to let her and her team through so that they could compete in the exams.

Why was this interesting?

Naruto would bet anything on the fact it was nothing more than an act. The girl was playing off the fact that the people around her were half convinced of the little lie, and was trying to keep the competition down. She was a sly little thing if that was the case, and her team was surely one to look out for. Of course, there was someone with an ego bigger than a plan in the room, "My team would never fall for such a thing. The third floor? We only went up two flights of stairs. You should just take down that pathetic Genjutsu."

Tch, stupid Uchiha… Nothing for it. Once the Uchiha got a proper ass kicking, he wouldn't be as full of himself. Until then, Naruto would just have to swallow down his thoughts. Nothing Naruto could say would change his mind on the matter.

But seriously, it was as if they had utterly forgotten the Wave Mission.

It had no effect on their overall attitudes and outlooks at all. It was disappointing as much as it was enraging. Haku died, Zabuza lost his strength and had to start life anew because of that mission, and the Genin couldn't even grow up a little bit?

Still, it was almost humorous to watch all the stupid Genin realize what the Uchiha said was fact. They all looked angry with themselves, and they should be. It was likely they didn't deserve to be part of this Exam if they couldn't see through such a simple illusion. It was as Naruto had always thought though, if you weren't paying attention, A Genjutsu user would kill you before you could scream to your mommy.

Naruto normally wasn't one big on strategy. He preferred tactics… However, he could work with what Sasuke was doing. Instead of going under the radar (Like actual fucking shinobi), they could use the attention Sasuke was drawing in a proactive way. It would unconsciously make people underestimate Naruto, even Sakura… She'd need that. So letting the Uchiha making a fool of himself was a plus in this…

This certainly reminded Naruto that Sasuke wasn't anything like the friend he had all that time ago in Mist.

Then a surprising character acted. Dressed in skintight green and orange leg warmers…

It made Naruto want to rip off his own leg warmers and never be seen in the country again.

This of course, was beside the point. The Genin in question was extremely fast. Naruto immediately categorized him as a dangerous opponent. Looks were deceiving in many cases, and this was without a doubt one of them. Stopping the Uchiha and a Chunin wasn't a small feat after all, "Let's wait to fight until the exams start. This is no place for actions like this."

It got worse though.

"Lee, you said that we should hide ourselves, and you just gave us away." The girl who'd been acting earlier spoke out.

Naruto was instantly more on guard than ever before. So, the smart girl was actually teammates with the strong sprout... Lee as it was. Their other teammate was undoubtedly just as impressive. It was better not to make enemies of them. Before anyone else could get a word in, Naruto spoke up himself, "Teme… You are the one that made us some here at this time. I thought it was for a reason, yet here you are wasting time. Let's go, before we end up getting into trouble."

"Hn." Came the typical response once again, only this time, it was almost spat out. The Uchiha wasn't happy that his teammate was drawing him away from the potential confrontation.

Tough shit! Damn, Sasuke was so much more bearable a few days ago. What the hell had changed his mind…?

"Don't talk to Sasuke-kun like that!" Sakura whispered frantically, looking around at the other Genin, almost embarrassed.

Both Naruto and Sasuke had already started to walk toward where they were meant to be going, without paying much attention to what she was saying. Naruto of course, didn't give a shit of her weird over protective urge when it came to the Uchiha, and the Uchiha himself didn't appreciate someone else fighting his battles.

They entered a rather open area that was sometimes used for sparring if the weather outside wasn't good enough, only to be interrupted by a now familiar voice, "Hey you, with the mean attitude."

Naruto knew that they should just ignore it – continuing without looking back to the troublemaker.

Instead, both Sasuke and Sakura turned around to face the person who had spoken toward them. At this point, Naruto was getting more than just impatient, but slammed down some emotional control. The situation could be made use of, if Naruto was cunning enough. It was practically a challenge.

That's right, not an annoyance… A challenge.

"You're Sasuke Uchiha correct? The last of the prodigal Uchiha Clan?" The sprout said, seeming an almost formal type of tense.

This of course, made Sasuke angry. People talking about his clan usually did. It brought up the feelings of inadequacy he felt when related to the rest of the perfect clan he'd been born into. Especially when it came to Itachi, "What of it?" He spoke curtly.

"I've heard that you are your years Rookie of the Year, a prodigy that many talk about, saying you are extremely skilled… Is this true?"

"Can you just get to the point already? We have a test to get to… I swear to god if I have to stay a Genin for another six months because I missed this exam I will kill everyone currently in this room. That includes myself." Naruto hissed out, grinding his teeth. Just the thought of failing this exam and being sent to find that goddamn cat…

Degrading…

"I just want a match with one of the top people in our generation." Lee said, although there was a spark of interest in his eyes that wasn't there before when beholding Naruto.

All right Uzumaki, don't spit killing intent out like its piss, you can control yourself.

"Dope… Like you're going to pass anyway." Nevertheless, it was a comfortable tease, something that made Naruto's anger lessen, rather than rise. The Uchiha then went to look the challenger in front of him over, wondering why he seemed so confident. Lee himself had said that Sasuke was one of the top in their generation, "Let me get this straight, you know that I'm supposedly one of the best in our generation, and you still want to fight me?"

Lee had a deep sort of determination set in his eyes, "Yes, I believe that fighting you will help me to understand my own path better. I definitely need to fight a prodigy, to understand just where I am when it comes to my own skill level."

That was something that Sasuke of all people could get behind. It was understandable; to want to know where you stood against someone you considered being your goal. Sadly enough, Sasuke knew that he was nowhere near his goal, but if he could help this Lee reach his, then shouldn't Sasuke take that extra step?

"Uke-chan, please remember that we have a deadline to meet." Naruto was quick to interject, giving a bloodthirsty grin toward his teammate. As if daring him to go against the words he'd just spoken. Even Sakura seemed to be in agreement, nodding along to what their blonde teammate was saying.

"This won't take that long." Sasuke stated confidently, stepping forward despite his teammates misgivings.

Naruto sincerely hopped that the sprout gave his teammate a solid ass kicking. Didn't the bastard ever learn that there was no 'I' in 'team'?

"Feh… I'm going up ahead. I have no interested in watching this ass beating, no matter which way it goes. Uke-chan, if you make me fail because you decided to play a game, I will not be happy." Naruto spoke clearly; glaring at Sasuke, bits of Naruto's killing intent leaking with the glare.

Naruto had noticed he was angry more often than the past few days. At first, he had thought it was a side effect of the whole Zabuza becoming half of just who made Naruto… well…. Naruto. However, that did not seem to be the case. If anything, Zabuza had a surprising amount of emotional control, and not much made him truly angry. This made the situation all the more curious, but as it were, Naruto's only theory was that he woke up on the wrong side of the bed for the last week.

As Naruto walked away, he gave a wave behind to his teammates and continued on his way to room 301.

"Naru-chan."

The voice was familiar, but it held an amount of anger that Naruto had not heard from the man before. To say that it was putting the blonde on edge wouldn't be an understatement. For a few seconds, Naruto wondered just what he would have done to make this particular person angry with him. That was, of course, when Naruto remembered his actions a few days ago when proving a point to his little apprentice.

"Kaka-sensei…" Even when the man had been trying to kill him as Zabuza, Kakashi hadn't given such strong killing intent.

The second Naruto uttered the syllables however, that intent vanished and the silver haired man practically folded in on himself, "My cute little student certainly went out of his way to destroy my only friendship."

Naruto could almost feel the depressed aura around the man. The Uzumaki rarely regretted his actions, especially not ones that could have been taken as nothing more than a simple prank, but for once, he did feel the twinges of guilt. He hadn't meant to do something so horrible to his two sensei's relationship that they would break it off.

"Surely Iruka-sensei knew you were a pervert when you became a thing."

"We weren't a thing." Kakashi stated plainly, looking at the ceiling instead of at his student. Honestly, Kakashi couldn't believe he was having this conversation, but he needed to have it with someone. His avenue of emotional structure was done without Iruka around to help the silver haired man work through what he was feeling. It was too embarrassing to talk to his senior comrades with; as they didn't have the same emotional stunting that Kakashi did and likely wouldn't understand. The only one he had been comfortable with was Iruka…

"Damn." Naruto whispered, understanding his error much better now. How was he meant to know that the two were so deep into denial that they utterly unaware of their own feelings? Still, that shouldn't mean Iruka would have left Kakashi, Naruto's old sensei was far too empathic for that, "I doubt Iruka-sensei dropped your friendship over something like your attraction toward him. Even if he didn't feel the same way toward you, which he does by the way."

Naruto really wanted with withhold advice like this. The last thing he really wanted was his perverted sensei going after his innocent one. However, he broke this, and now Naruto had to fix it.

"You think so?" Kakashi sounded almost innocently hopeful.

Damn, this guy was broken ten ways to Sunday. Naruto thought to himself, looking at his sensei with a curious eye. Zabuza could recall hearing about Kakashi a lot, excessively young to be a ninja… Trained to keep his emotions out of the job completely, during a war too. It made sense that he was so messed up, and Naruto had broken his support system. Damn, no wonder he was coming to Naruto like this.

Something was curious about the way he'd put that though, "Shouldn't you already know that?"

"I ran away." Kakashi stated plainly, masking his emotions behind a feeble eye smile.

Urgh… "Go talk to him, actually talk to him. I'm almost sure that he will admit his feelings toward you and you two can do… Whatever it is you do all alone at Iruka's house. Let's be clear though… If you hurt him, I will kill you."

Kakashi seemed to mull the information over, before nodding slowly, his whole demeanor seeming to nit itself back together, bringing up the typical mask the man wore on a daily basis. Not the physical one, but the metaphorical one, "By the way, you can't go in there without your teammates… I would have thought that Sasuke would have shown, but either way, you need a team. Guess no Chunin Exams for you."

The man was borderline too cheerful for having to say something like that.

"They're here, they are just lagging behind."

As if on cue, the two other members of Team 7 walked in and saw Naruto with their Sensei, both of which raised a hand in greeting.

Sasuke was wearing several bruises. On his pride that was, the physical ones were actually less apparent then the internal ones that Uchiha had just suffered if his general demeanor was anything to go by.

"I guess little Uke-chan ended up getting his ass handed to him by the Sprout. Can't say I was betting on it, but I'm not overly surprised."

Sasuke just glared at Naruto, still trying to piece together his superiority complex, Naruto guessed.

"Shut up Naruto-baka! Sasuke-kun didn't get his ass beat; he was just surprised is all. Next time he'll definitely get that weirdo." Sakura said, sounding pretty sure of it.

Naruto would beg to differ. It seemed that Sasuke had gotten his ass kicked Grade-A-Style, the sprout was simply better than him. Uke-chan probably shouldn't be up to facing Lee again anytime soon.

"Shouldn't my cute little Genin have arguments like this AFTER they complete the first part of the exams? You wouldn't want to be late, would you?"

All three of said, 'Cute Little Genin' were clearing at their sensei for that particular comment. How the man could get off on telling them not to be late, when he couldn't be on time to save a life. The Copycat

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There are a shit ton of shinobi in here, was Naruto's first thought as he entered the room, his second thought?

Which ones were the most dangerous?

There weren't that many that stood out off the bat, with the exception of the redhead and his team, as well as the Sprout and his team. The rest of them seemed to be relatively normal shinobi for mid to high Genin-level. Naruto stood in one place, just observing the other teams for a few moments. Another thing of note was the three Genin that wore a music note as their forehead protector symbol. Neither Zabuza, nor Naruto had come across something like that before.

His thought process was interrupted, "Naruto-baka! Pay attention!"

Sakura screamed in his ear, his attention wrenched toward her, as he tried to withstand the urge to reflexively reach for his sword at the fright in such a competition.

No one really noticed this.

Except one person who'd been observing the blonde the same way the blonde had been watching everyone else – Nara Shikamaru.

Seeing a more mature Naruto was like a kick in the balls. It was clear to Shikamaru that Naruto had far exceeded what any of them had expected form the blonde already. The way he was looking at the room before, he was studying his opponent, and as a Nara, no one knew how that looked better than Shikamaru. It wasn't just in strength that Naruto grew then, but also in intelligence. That doubled with Naruto's creativity would certainly mean one thing, Nara Shikamaru needed to keep his options open. Naruto was strong, a thus would make a powerful enemy... or ally.

Shikamaru knew that his team wasn't ready for these exams. They were put in the exams to teach a lesson, as their Sensei assumed that they would be able to get out alive. That was true, as long as they had Shikamaru along to play it smarter instead of harder.

Sometimes smarter meant knowing when your opponent had you out gunned and you needed allies.

Early assumptions make an ass out of you and me, but the Nara couldn't help but get the strange feeling that Naruto could easily be the strongest ally that he could make to keep his team alive in these exams.

Shikamaru definitely was taking Naruto more seriously than any of the others, but that didn't mean the rest of the Genin from Konoha hadn't noticed the change in their blonde comrade.

"I was paying attention; it's not my fault that you were paying attention to the wrong thing." Naruto drawled out, but the bite was taken out of the comment by the grin he gave her afterwards. Better to present a united front then a fractured and broken one.

"It's troublesome, but Naruto does have a point. He was watching our future opponents, That's probably more effective then screaming our heads off, drawing the enemies attention, and then more than likely going to off to fan girl over the 'ladies man' over there." Shikamaru spoke, rather bluntly in a drawling tone.

Naruto looked Shikamaru over. He seemed much the same as always, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The Uzumaki had always appreciated Shikamaru's brand of lazy bluntness. With the added knowledge of Zabuza however, that appreciation that Naruto had quickly flickered into respect. Konohagakure was famous for its strong bloodlines, with their teamwork, but also for their incredibly strong clans. One of the clans that people in other villages most feared was the Nara. Despite how lazy they were, their mind was deadly… Moreover, a shinobi's greatest weapon was his or her mind.

"Shika-chan! I'm surprised your lazy ass hasn't gotten itself killed yet."

"Naruto… You've changed a lot." Shikamaru drawled, his slouched posture screaming of laziness, but his sharp eyes were piercing Naruto.

It put Naruto on edge. Thus far, he'd hidden the whole situation with Zabuza reasonably well. Perhaps the best chance that Naruto had of not being discovered when under a Nara's sharp eye was the fact the Nara in question would probably find it far too troublesome to dig too deeply into just what was going on with the Uzumaki.

"He's probably the same dumb ass that he's always been." A retort came in a growly voice; Naruto immediately knew who it was. An accurate term would probably be 'rival' but honestly, Naruto had moved past that. Still, Kiba was an amusing person, and he actually came up with rather witty responses when he put his pea-sized brain to it.

"Look who's talking." Naruto stated simply, retaking in his surroundings. The Uchiha was in quite the state, his fan girls standing a bit too close to him. Naruto couldn't really bring himself to help the poor guy; he did it to himself with that damned attitude of his. Next to the Uchiha group was the Kiba group, which contained his two teammates, Hinata and Shino.

Hinata was also much the same as she was in the academy, pushing her fingers together shyly and not making eye contact with anyone.

Zabuza suddenly realized a something about the way the Hyuuga had been behaving toward Naruto in general. The girl had a crush on the Uzumaki… Suddenly Naruto felt incredibly awkward even looking at her. She was so little… It was just wrong to even think about an innocent little girl like that being attracted to him. Naruto quickly averted his eyes from her, and would continue to quickly glance away from her from then on.

Moving on…

Ino and Chouji also seemed pretty much the same as they'd always been. Chouji seemed a bit more in shape than before, there was a bit more maturity in him, but it was nothing major.

In these exams, only Shikamaru and Sasuke could really be a threat to him as far as the Konoha teams went.

"You know, you guys are drawing a lot of attention to yourselves, probably not something that the Rookie Genin should do."

Naruto swung toward the new voice, rather shocked to find someone standing behind him. He quickly schooled his features from shocked to a more mild surprise mixed with a raised eyebrow, "You certainly have a point… Who are you exactly?"

As Naruto waited for a response, he surveyed the guy before him. His chakra wasn't anything special now that Naruto was really looking at it… Nevertheless, the fact he'd been snuck up on was jarring. His control over chakra had improved to the point where his own sensing was no longer blocked out, a situation like this SHOULDN'T happen any longer, not even to purple wearing grey haired Genin that were most likely nothing to fear.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Kabuto, Kabuto Yakushi."

Naruto felt weirdly tense around the guy, he couldn't bring himself to relax.

Sasuke had noticed, and was more on guard then before, ditching the fan girls to stand more noticeably with the blonde, and Shikamaru was noting the situation carefully.

"Is there something that you wanted Kabuto-san?" Sasuke spoke, his eyes narrowed.

"No need for that look." Kabuto said, holding his hands up giving an almost playful smile, "I'm not some suspicious person, I just saw that some fellow Konoha-nin were potentially putting themselves into a dangerous spot, and thought I'd try to give them some friendly advice. It you don't want to hear what I have to say, I'll leave."

Naruto opened his mouth, ready to tell the guy to get the fuck out and that they didn't need his help, when he was interrupted, "That's nice of you Kabuto-san. If you have information for us, does that mean you've taken the exams before?"

That fucking Sakura…

Kabuto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, his glasses adding to the look, "Well… It's actually my seventh time taking the test. Exams are held in Konoha twice a year."

Damn, Naruto could feel his instincts itching at him. Seven times? Was that normal? Naruto didn't know much about the tests, even with his past knowledge, but that seemed overly excessive and suspicious… Were his emotions blinding the way he was feeling about Kabuto? Damn… Naruto just couldn't understand what to make of the guy.

The mind fuck was too strong.

Sasuke seemed to forget about Naruto's attitude toward the Genin at this, thinking him too weak to pose a threat in lieu of the new information, "Do you have information on certain people?"

"Oh yeah, this time I came prepared for anything. Last thing that I want is to fail again… Is there someone in particular that you were looking for?"

"Rock Lee."

Well, despite how much the guy through me off, no reason turn down potential important information, "The red head from the Suna team, those music note village Genin, and tell me about you, Kabuto… I'm interested."

The question wasn't posed innocently, but either the glasses wearing Genin either ignored it, or didn't catch the under draft that Naruto was spouting.

"Well… Let's see here. First up is Rock Lee, he's a year older than you rookies are and trained by Gai. Wow, one of the top Jounin of the village, that's impressive. His Taijutsu is off the charts for a Genin, if this exam was based off stats alone he'd certainly pass. Although the rest of his skills are low, way below average… Maybe I spoke too soon. He's teammates with Tenten and wow, Rookie of the Year Neji Hyuuga. Together they completed 20 D-rank missions and 5 c-rank." Kabuto finished, looking mildly impressed,

Why should he be? He was the one that gathered the information – therefore, being impressed by it was overly weird. It wasn't the information gathering itself that was weird, hell; it was common for shinobi to horde information like that.

That damn itch again.

"Alright, now we're getting fun. Red head with no name from Suna… Sabaku no Gaara. His team if Temari and Kankuro, all of them are extremely skilled, but Gaara especially stands out. His physical stats aren't that high, but his Ninjutsu is noteworthy, well other skills are standard. The three of them are actually the sons and daughter of the Kazekage, and together they completed 13 D-rank, 8 C-rank, and 2 B-rank missions." Kabuto's eyes shot wide in surprise, "That shouldn't be possible, he's the same age as you guys, a Genin… They aren't allowed to be on B-rank missions usually… Never mind the fact it says here that Gaara always returns from his missions without injury."

Bloodline.

Missions B-rank and above without injury? That just bleeds the taste of bloodline. It was honestly the only thing that really made sense.

Naruto also noted the surprise Kabuto showed toward his own information again. Tch, this guy was playing it up somehow to them, or maybe he stole the information? The unease just wouldn't go away.

"The Sound Genin, I believe you asked for next." Kabuto cleared his throat and seemed to collect his thoughts, "They are from a relatively new village. Not much is known about them, other than the fact that they typically use some sort of sound as an attack. Hence, the name of their village, I suppose. This will be the first time the village ever sent their shinobi away to take a Genin exam."

Kabuto paused for a moment, before giving the Genin watching him in rapt attention a little laugh, "As for me, my main avenue of skill is in Medical-Ninjutsu, I'm just average in everything else. My chakra stores are really low as well; it's always been a problem for me. My team and I have done 57 D-rank and 8 C-rank missions."

Naruto couldn't exactly sense a lie, but he was still fucking unsettled. To be perfectly honest, he just wanted to leave the situation and never look at the glassed Genin again. Something about him… Was more than likely nothing? Honestly, if the actual Jounin around here couldn't sense something wrong with the Genin before him, then Naruto was likely over reaching because of the fact he used to have better senses and now they were exchanged for something almost subpar in comparison. There wasn't anything wrong with Kabuto.

There wasn't.

His hand was twitching to reach for his weapon the longer he stood in the suspicious-not suspicious Genin's presence, so Naruto just nodded his head and formed his expression to look thoughtful before he walked backward a bit, a 'safe' distance from the 'threat' and just watched.

Nara Shikamaru had caught it all, and damn was that Kabuto weird. He could understand why Naruto was so on edge, although the signs were so miniscule… Something was definitely off. The way that he was reacting to his own information, his attitude, and although having knowledge like this wouldn't be all that weird in general, having it on several different villages was kind of out there...

It would be troublesome to go against someone like that. The situation had however, helped him understand Naruto much better. He would see how the blonde dealt with the first exam before he made his choice, but the most helpful ally would likely be the blonde – As he proved repeatedly.

Both of the thinking Genin jumped farther to attention the second that Kabuto was attacked by someone from the Sound Village.

He moved too quickly, but Naruto knew that he didn't, it was in the Uzumaki's head… Fuck, he just wanted to be away from that stupid Genin and not see him anymore. The guy was doing his fucking head in. If they were around each other too much longer, he might try to take the guys head just from annoyance.

It became more interesting – and infinitely less annoying, when despite the fact that Kabuto had a clean cut dodge, the Genin collapsed onto the floor and got sick. Before when Kabuto had been explaining about the Sound Ninja, he had said that they use sounds in their attacks. Naruto hadn't seen anything like that before, but it was actually pretty damn impressive. Naruto reminded himself to get some earplugs should he have to face any of them on the actual battlefield.

"The Sound Village is gonna dominate this whole exam, weak little Leaf-Ninja like you don't stand any chance against us. You're spoiled brats, and it's about time that someone taught you better."

It wasn't just the Sound Village Genin that seemed to agree with that, but various others from the exam room suddenly bore down on the Rookie Genin. Naruto narrowed his eyes at his opponents for a moment, wondering just what he should do.

He saw some of the rookies wavering in their determination. Especially the girls, although Naruto only glanced at Hinata for a millisecond.

"Actually, here's how it's going to be. You have nothing on me; I'm going to become Hokage someday… If any of you people in this exam get it n your tiny little heads to get in the way of that goal… I'll kill you."

He gave a sharp grin, followed by a deep chuckle as he bore down on his own Killing Intent, draping it over all the people who'd been glaring at the Konoha Genin. Suddenly that attention was placed on Naruto alone. Good, let them think that they could touch him. If he couldn't beat them with raw power, he'd just throw sand in their eyes and kick them in their precious spots. After all, they threatened Naruto's comrades… He was entitled to feeling a little bit protective.

"All you little brats need to settle down." An older man said as he entered the room, a deep scowl painted on his face, before it transformed into an almost sadistic grin, "The exam is about to start after all. I'm your exam proctor, Ibiki Morino"

 **R &R**

 **So, I listened to the majourity reviews that said Sakura should wait to improve and listened. Curiosity begs for me to ask, _do people just in general not give a shit about Sakura?_ I had a plan to make her useful and a good character, but if readers won't care for it, then I might not bother. Let me know! **


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